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Chemical Formula Review

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Chemical Formulas Review: Nomenclature and Formula Writing
Naming Simple Compounds
There are four naming systems you should familiarize yourself with to succeed on the SAT II Chemistry exam. The trick is recognizing which naming system to use. Here are the guidelines: * If the compound starts with H, it is an acid. Use the naming acids rules. * If the compound starts with C and contains quite a few H’s and perhaps some O’s, it is organic. Use the naming organic compounds rules. * If the compound starts with a metal, it is most likely ionic. Use the naming binary ionic compounds rules. * If the compound starts with a nonmetal other than H or C, use the naming binary molecular compounds rules.
It is also essential that …show more content…

H2SO3 is sulfurous acid.
Acids have enough H+ added to the anion to make the compound neutral. Supply either the acid’s name or its formula to complete the table below: Acid formula | Acid name | HCl | | | Hypochlorous acid | | Chlorous acid | | Chloric acid | | Hyperchloric acid (or perchloric acid) | HNO3 | | | Hydrobromic acid | H3PO4 | | H3PO3 | | | Hydrocyanic acid | HC2H3O2 | | | Carbonic acid | | Hydroiodic acid | HF | |
Naming Organic Compounds
How do you know it’s organic? The formula will start with a C followed by H’s. Most of the organic carbons you will encounter will be either hydrocarbons or alcohols, and luckily for you, these are the simplest of all to name. Learn the list of prefixes in the table following this section: they correspond to the number of carbons present in the compound. The following silly statement will help you remember the order of the first four prefixes since they are not ones you are familiar with: “Me eat peanut butter.” This corresponds to meth-, eth-, prop-, and but-, which correspond to one, two, three, and four carbons, respectively.
Now that we have a stem, we need an ending. There are three common hydrocarbon endings; the ending changes depending on the structure of the molecule: * -ane = alkane (all single bonds and saturated); CnH2n+2; saturated: it contains the maximum number of H’s * -ene = alkene (contains double bond, unsaturated); CnH2n *

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