Rules For Naming Ionic And Covalent Compounds, Acids printable pdf download

Rules For Naming Ionic And Covalent Compounds, Acids

Rules for naming Ionic and Covalent Compounds, Acids

1. Decide if it is an ionic or covalent compound.

Ionic compounds are formed from IONS: a metal + a nonmetal

a metal + a polyatomic anion

ammonium + a nonmetal or polyatomic anion

Metals are ALL elements to the left of the metalloid stair-step on the periodic table. Non metals

are everything to the right of it.

Covalent compounds are formed from 2 or more nonmetals

Acids are a specific type of ionic compound where Hydrogen is the cation

2. Ionic compounds are named with the cation first. If the metal is tin (Sn), lead (Pb) or ANY transition

metal that is NOT silver, you need to express what the charge of the ion is either with Roman numerals

Copper (II) or the classical name (cuprous). NEVER put the prefixes di, tri, tetra, etc. on ionic

compounds because you know the charges. That tells you how many of each ion there are. Make sure

you balance the charges using the smallest whole number ratio of ions.

3. Covalent compounds are named with the prefixes:

mono -1 (never used on the first atom in the molecule, only on subsequent ones eg: CO =

carbon monoxide

di-2

tri-3

tetra-4

penta-5

hexa-6

hepta-7

The first element just has the element name. Subsequent elements end in –ide.

Because they are covalent, there are no charges to balance. The number in the name and the

number in the formula are the same.

4. Acids are a specific type of ionic compound where the cation is hydrogen. If you see an ionic

compound where Hydrogen is the cation, it is ALWAYS an acid.

anions that come off the periodic table (or cyanide (CN

)) that end in –ide, form hydro-------ic

acids such as hydrobromic acid.

anions that end in –ite from the polyatomic ion chart form ---ous acid, such as phosphorus acid

anions that end in –ate from the polyatomic ion chart form ---ic acid, such as nitric acid

The number of hydrogens is determined by the charge on the anion. Like other ionic

compounds, there is no charge on the acid.

Rules For Naming Ionic And Covalent Compounds, Acids