MomOfABunch Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 DS has questions about this chapter and I have no clue. Does anyone know? The problem is as follows: Write the chemical formula for: sodium nitrate sodium sulfate sodium carbonate sodium phospate sodium hydroxide sodium chromate silver nitrate silver sulfate silver carbonate silver phospate silver hydroxide silver chromate and so on for a dozen more examples. The parent book has the answers but doesn't have an explanation of how to get the answers. DS and I both have read the student chapter several times and don't get it. Please help! TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 You aren't the only one who asked this. I read the chapter, but we didn't do the written stuff. We are using other things along with it. I wonder if someone could ask the author to clarify? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martha in GA Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Hopefully, I can help with this. Each of these compounds is ionic in nature. Sodium will form a +1 ion (Na+) and nitrate will form a -2 ion (NO3 2-). To balance the charges, you would need to two Na+ for each NO3 2-, so your formula would be Na2NO3. Sorry, I don't know how to do subscripts/superscripts. Anyway, you would do the same balancing procedure with each of the compounds listed. You probably have a list of ionic charges for all of the ions in your book somewhere. For example, you would see that hydroxide ion is (OH -), so sodium hydroxide would simply be NaOH, since that would balance the charges. Martha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 Hopefully, I can help with this. Each of these compounds is ionic in nature. Sodium will form a +1 ion (Na+) and nitrate will form a -2 ion (NO3 2-). To balance the charges, you would need to two Na+ for each NO3 2-, so your formula would be Na2NO3. Sorry, I don't know how to do subscripts/superscripts. Anyway, you would do the same balancing procedure with each of the compounds listed. You probably have a list of ionic charges for all of the ions in your book somewhere. For example, you would see that hydroxide ion is (OH -), so sodium hydroxide would simply be NaOH, since that would balance the charges. Martha Thank You! I'll be honest, I have no clue what that meant but DS read it and said "Oh! So the charge is important!" And is now doing the questions and getting the correct answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martha in GA Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I'm glad he understands now. Maybe he can explain it to you! Martha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 There is a great 4-week chemistry online class that I'm watching right now, and he explains ionic and covalent bonds in a most stellar fashion. Maybe you guys could sign up for it and watch the lessons? They re-do the class every 5 weeks, I think, so you could jump in now or wait for the next iteration. It's free! https://www.open2study.com/courses/chemistry It's the Module 2 lectures where he discusses bonding and explains the naming conventions and balancing ions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 There is a great 4-week chemistry online class that I'm watching right now, and he explains ionic and covalent bonds in a most stellar fashion. Maybe you guys could sign up for it and watch the lessons? They re-do the class every 5 weeks, I think, so you could jump in now or wait for the next iteration. It's free! https://www.open2study.com/courses/chemistry It's the Module 2 lectures where he discusses bonding and explains the naming conventions and balancing ions. Thanks! I'll check it out; sounds great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Hopefully, I can help with this. Each of these compounds is ionic in nature. Sodium will form a +1 ion (Na+) and nitrate will form a -2 ion (NO3 2-). To balance the charges, you would need to two Na+ for each NO3 2-, so your formula would be Na2NO3. Sorry, I don't know how to do subscripts/superscripts. Anyway, you would do the same balancing procedure with each of the compounds listed. You probably have a list of ionic charges for all of the ions in your book somewhere. For example, you would see that hydroxide ion is (OH -), so sodium hydroxide would simply be NaOH, since that would balance the charges. Martha I agree with Martha with one small change - the charge on a nitrate ion is -1 and not -2. :) That means that a nitrate ion is written as NO31- or NO3-1. That would give a formula of NaNO3 for sodium nitrate. Other than that, it's good - you need to balance the charges so that the final compound is electrically neutral (has an overall charge of zero). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martha in GA Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Oops, I knew I should have looked it up! Thanks for pointing that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I agree with Martha with one small change - the charge on a nitrate ion is -1 and not -2. :) That means that a nitrate ion is written as NO31- or NO3-1. That would give a formula of NaNO3 for sodium nitrate. Other than that, it's good - you need to balance the charges so that the final compound is electrically neutral (has an overall charge of zero). Yep. When I tutor chemistry, and they get to polyatomic ions (nitrate, sulfate, etc). I tell them to make flash cards with the name on one side and the formula, including charge, on the other. Once they have the formulas and charge memorized, it makes it much easier to figure out how to make a molecule with zero charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.