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What Is Chemical Formula

The document discusses chemical formulas and how they are used to represent the elements that make up compounds and the number of atoms in the smallest unit. It explains that a chemical formula shows the symbols of the elements in a compound and the subscripts indicating the number of atoms. It also discusses how chemical formulas allow the naming and identification of compounds from their structure.

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Vikrant Deshmukh
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213 views

What Is Chemical Formula

The document discusses chemical formulas and how they are used to represent the elements that make up compounds and the number of atoms in the smallest unit. It explains that a chemical formula shows the symbols of the elements in a compound and the subscripts indicating the number of atoms. It also discusses how chemical formulas allow the naming and identification of compounds from their structure.

Uploaded by

Vikrant Deshmukh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is Chemical Formula?

A chemical formula shows the elements that make up the compound and the numbers of atoms of
each element in the smallest unit of that compound, be it a molecule or a formula unit.
Knowing the names of the elements and a few basic rules allows us to name simple compounds
given the chemical formula. We also can reverse the process. That is, if we know the name of the
compound, we should be able to write the chemical formula.

Atoms and Molecules


Atoms group together to make the objects and other materials around us. Matter that contains just
one type of atom is called an element. Atoms can also form molecules that have complex
shapes. Carbon atoms can join to make spherical molecules of connected hexagons and pentagons.

 Chemists have to write chemical equations all the time and it would take too long to write and
read if they had to spell everything out.
 So chemists use symbols just like it’s done in maths. Each element has a symbol. There’s a
particular way of writing what’s in a molecule called a chemical formula.
 The chemical formulae for all the elements that form each molecule and uses a small
number to the bottom right of an element’s symbol to stand for the number of atoms of that
element.
 For example, the chemical formula for water is H2O. That tells us that a water molecule is
made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

Writing and Balancing Chemical Equations


A chemical equation is a written statement that uses chemical symbols and chemical formulas
instead of words to describe the changes that occur in chemical reactions.
The following example, shows the contrast between a word description of a chemical reaction and a
chemical equation for the same reaction.

 Word description – Calcium sulfide reacts with water to produce calcium oxide and
hydrogen sulfide
 Chemical equation – CaS + H2O → CaO + H2S
In the same way that chemical symbols are considered the letters of chemical language and
formulas are considered the words of the language, chemical equations can be considered the
sentences of chemical language.
The substances present at the start of a chemical reaction are called reactants. A reactant is a
starting material in a chemical reaction that undergoes change in the chemical reaction. As a
chemical reaction proceeds reactants are consumed and new materials with new chemical
properties called products are produced. A product is a substance produced as a result of the
chemical reaction.

Convention used in Writing Chemical Equations


Four convention are used to write chemical equations
1. The correct formulas of the reactants are always written on the left side of the equation.
CaS + H2O → CaO + H2S
The correct formulas of the products are always written on the right side of the equation.
CaS + H2O → CaO + H2S
The reactants and products are separated by an arrow pointing toward the products.
CaS + H2O → CaO + H2S
This arrow means “to produce“.
Plus signs are used to separate different reactants or different products.
CaS + H2O → CaO + H2S
Plus signs on the reactant side of the equation mean “reacts with” and plus signs on the products
side mean “and”.

Writing Chemical Formula of Binary Compounds using Valency


A Chemical formula represents the proportions, by mass of the different elements in a compound.
A binary compound is composed of two different elements only. Formulae of binary compounds can
be written using valencies since both types of atom forming the compound must lose, gain or share
the same number of electrons.

 To write the chemical formula of a binary compound.


 Determine the valencies of the two elements present.
 Write the chemical formula such that the sums of the valencies of the two elements are
equal. Do this by determining the lowest common multiple of the two valencies.
 If a metal is present, always place it first in the formula.

Solved Examples
1. Aluminium oxide
Valencies of elements:
Al = 3 (Group III)
O = 2 (Group VI)
Lowest common multiple of valencies = 6
Al = 2 x 3 = 6
O=3x2=6
Therefore the chemical formula = Al2O3
2. Phosphorus trichloride
Valencies of elements:
P = 3 (Group V)
Cl = 1 (Group VII)
Lowest common multiple of valencies = 3
P=1x3=3
Cl = 3 x 1 = 3
Chemical formula = PCl3

Frequently Asked Questions on Chemical Formulae

How do you name a formula?


The first component in the formula is simply identified with the element name. The second
component is named by taking the name of the element stem and adding the -ide suffix. The number
of atoms in a molecule is determined using a scheme of numerical prefixes.

Is hydrogen a compound?
Hydrogen gas (H2) is a molecule but not a compound because it consists of only one part. Water
(H2O) can be referred to as a molecule or compound because it consists of atoms of hydrogen (H)
and oxygen (O). There are two main types of chemical bonds which hold atoms together: ionic /
electrovalent and covalent bonds.

How many elements are there?


Currently the periodic table includes 118 elements. Some elements were present only in laboratories
and in nuclear accelerators. So, you may wonder how many elements of course can be found. The
usual response given in the textbook is 91.

Is the chemical formula and molecular formula the same?


A molecular formula is not a chemical name, so there are no terms to it. While certain basic chemical
structures can be suggested by a molecular formula, it is not the same as a total chemical structural
formulation. Molecular formulas are more restrictive than chemical names and formulae.

What is the formula of substance?


The formula of a substance, in terms of its atoms and molecules, denotes its composition. For
example, ethane has 2 atoms of carbon and 6 atoms of hydrogen. It can also infer the bonding
structure of one molecule in certain instances.
Symbols for Atoms of Various Elements
Every element in nature is signified with a chemical name, a
chemical valency and a symbol which is used to refer to this element
while creating chemical equations. This symbol denotes a singular
atom. That is to say, when we refer to Aluminium as Al, it refers to a
single atom of Aluminium.

The first scientist to use symbols for chemical elements was Dalton. He


was the one who used the symbols of the elements in a
specified quantity, i.e one atom of the element. Later on, Berzilius
suggested that we could use one or two letters of the element to form its
symbol.

Initially, symbols for the name of elements were derived from the place
they originated from. So copper was taken from Cyprus, while gold was
meant yellow and so it was denoted accordingly. However, today the
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry approves the
element names.

Traditionally, the first letter of the name of the element in upper case
followed by the second letter which is in lower case is written as the
symbol of the element. Sometimes you may see that the alphabets
denoting the symbol of the element does not match the name of the
element. This happens when the name of the element is written in
English but the symbol is derived from its name in Latin, Greek or
German.

For example, the chemical symbol for Potassium is K. This ‘K’ is


derived from Kalium. Iron is denoted by ‘Fe’ which comes from the
Latin word “Ferrum”. H for Hydrogen, Co for Cobalt. This ensures that
each element has a unique symbol.
What is An Atomic Mass?
Dalton in his Atomic theory further theorized that each element
consisted of an atomic mass. This theory was widely accepted as it
explained the law of constant proportions and the scientists were
encouraged to weigh the atomic mass of the elements. However, it was
soon realized that determining the mass of an atom was not an easy
exercise.

Therefore, scientists developed a way of determining atomic weight by


forming compounds using the law of chemical combinations. In 1961 a
standard unit of Carbon atom was determined to be 12 isotopes (Learn
more about Isotopes and Isobars here).  It was proposed that one atomic
mass unit was 1/12th of the mass of the mass of a single carbon atom.
Based on this relative masses of other elements were also determined.

For example, oxygen has an atomic mass of 16. Sodium has an atomic
mass of 23 and accordingly other elements also received their atomic
masses.

Learn more about Atomic Number here.

Chemical Formula
As already stated, a chemical formula is a
symbolic expression signifying the number of atoms present in a
molecular substance. We determine the type of atom by referring to its
symbol, so for Hydrogen, we will use H. The number of atoms is
determined by the subscript attached to the symbol.  So a chemical
formula of water, i.e H2O has two atoms of hydrogen and a single atom
of oxygen.

Steps for writing a chemical formula


Step 1: First, you have to decide the type of the bond.

If the prefixes are used, then it is a covalent bond. In case there are no
prefixes, it is an ionic bond. After that is decided move to Step number
2.

Step 2: Now, write down the symbol of the polyatomic ion or the
element.

Step 3: Now, if the prefix was used, you’ll have to add a subscript.
You’ll also have to add a subscript in order to balance the charge.

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