Naming Acids Worksheet
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1
2Naming Acids
Acids are divided into two groups: Binary and Oxyacids. Binary acids consist of two
elements. Oxyacids consist of 3 elements, one of which is oxygen.
1. NAMING BINARY ACIDS: The name of the binary acid consists of two words. The
first word has three parts:
the “hydro” prefix
the root of the nonmetal element
the “ic” ending
The second word is always “acid”
Examples:
HCl = hydro chlor ic
acid = hydrochloric acid
HBr = hydro brom ic
acid = hydrobromic acid
HF = hydro fluor
ic
acid = hydrofluoric acid
2. NAMING OXYACIDS: These are more difficult to name because these acids have
hydrogen, a nonmetal, and may have varying numbers of oxygen atoms. For example,
H
SO
, H
SO
, H
SO
, and H
SO
are all acids. How do we name them? To begin, we
2
5
2
4
2
3
2
2
need a point of reference. Our reference point is this:
The “ate” ions (sulfate, nitrate, etc) make the “ic” acids (sulfuric acid, nitric acid)
Examples:
2-
SO
= sulfate ion
H
SO
= sulfuric acid
4
2
4
-
NO
= nitrate ion
HNO
= nitric acid
3
3
Once we have our point of reference, the acid with one more oxygen than the -ic acid is
called the per-_________-ic acid. The acid with one less oxygen then the -ic acid is
called the ___________-ous acid. If the acid has one less oxygen than the -ous acid, it
is called the hypo-____________-ous acid.
Examples:
H
SO
= persulfuric acid
HNO
= pernitric acid
2
5
4
H
SO
= sulfuric acid
HNO
= nitric acid
2
4
3
H
SO
= sulfurous acid
HNO
= nitrous acid
2
3
2
H
SO
= hyposulfurous acid
HNO
= hyponitrous acid
2
2
The KEY: All you really need to know are the “ate” ions. After that, you can use the
above scheme to name any oxyacid. To refresh your memory, here are some of the
common “ate” ions:
2-
-
sulfate = SO
nitrate = NO
4
3
-
-
chlorate = ClO
bromate = BrO
3
3
3-
2-
phosphate = PO
carbonate = CO
4
3
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