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Equations
LOOKING AHEAD
Chemical formulas and equations are brief, convenient ways of
expressing chemical information. They are, in effect, the language
of chemistry. Learning to write formulas and equations will enable
you to communicate ideas more easily and more exactly, not only
in the field of chemistry but also in many other scientific fields.
When you have completed this chapter, you should be able to:
■ Write chemical formulas for ionic substances, based on the
charges of the ions.
■ Write chemical formulas for molecular substances, based on a
system of numerical prefixes.
■ Assign oxidation numbers.
■ Correctly name chemical compounds.
■ Write and balance a chemical equation.
■ Calculate molecular and molar mass.
Chemical Formulas
You learned about the symbols of elements in Chapter 2. By now,
you probably know and use the symbols of many common
156
elements. When elements exist in combination—that is, in a
compound—the symbols of the elements involved are combined
into a formula. Every chemical formula provides important
information about the compound it represents.
Binary Compounds
Binary compounds contain two different elements. These
compounds are named by first stating the metal followed by the
nonmetal with the ending “ide.” Common examples are sodium
chloride (NaCl) and calcium oxide (CaO). If the binary com-
pound consists of two nonmetals, then the nonmetal with the
lower electronegativity is named first. Thus the compound CO2 is
called carbon dioxide, and not dioxygen carbide. Remembering
Using the charges of these ions, you can write formulas for the
compounds containing these ions.
What is the formula of aluminum oxide? You can see that the
aluminum ion is 3, while the oxide ion is 2. What combina-
tion of aluminum and oxide will result in a charge of zero? You
need two aluminums for every three oxides, resulting in the for-
mula Al2O3. Note that the total charge on two aluminum ions is
6, and the total charge on three oxide ions is 6, so that the
compound is neutral. Students frequently arrive at the correct for-
mula by using the “crisscross method.”
SAMPLE PROBLEM
PROBLEM
What is the formula of sodium oxide?
SOLUTION
Steps: 1. The ions are Na1O2
2. Crisscrossing,
h2
Na1v
O
gives us Na2O. Remember, we do not write 1 as a
subscript.
3. The subscripts are already in lowest terms.
PRACTICE
4.1 Write the formulas for the following substances:
(a) barium oxide (b) calcium iodide (c) aluminum sul-
fide (d) sodium nitride (e) potassium sulfide.
SAMPLE PROBLEM
PROBLEM
What is the formula for tin (IV) oxide?
SOLUTION
The Roman numeral tells you that tin is 4. The oxide ion,
you will remember, is 2. Crisscrossing gives us Sn2O4,
which in lowest terms becomes SnO2. The correct formula
for tin (IV) oxide is SnO2.
PRACTICE
4.2 Write correct formulas for the following substances:
(a) iron (III) oxide (b) cobalt (II) chloride (c) lead (IV)
sulfide (d) nickel (II) oxide
Polyatomic Ions
In Chapter 3 you examined the structure of the ammonium
ion, NH4. The ammonium ion is a polyatomic ion, an ion con-
taining two or more atoms. The atoms within the ion are cova-
lently bonded, but the entire ion, since it has a positive charge,
can form ionic bonds with negative ions. Most polyatomic ions
are negatively charged. A list of these ions appears in Appendix 4.
PRACTICE
4.3 Write formulas for the following substances:
(a) aluminum phosphate (b) sodium carbonate (c) bar-
ium nitrate (d) nickel(III) hydroxide (e) ammonium
sulfate
Prefix names You probably know that CO2 is called carbon diox-
ide. The prefix “di” is used to indicate the number of oxygen
atoms. The prefixes used in this system are: mon(o)- indicating
one; di-, two; tri-, three; tetr(a)-, four; pent(a)-, five; and hex(a)-, six.
(The vowels in parentheses are often dropped when preceding
another vowel.) Some compounds named this way include:
carbon monoxide, CO sulfur dioxide, SO2
dinitrogen trioxide, N2O3 sulfur trioxide, SO3
diarsenic pentoxide, As2O5 carbon tetrachloride, CCl4
PRACTICE
4.5 Give the formulas of the following compounds:
(a) silicon tetrabromide (b) dinitrogen monoxide
(c) carbon disulfide (d) phosphorus trichloride
The Stock system You will recall that iron can form two different
compounds with chlorine, FeCl2 and FeCl3. In the names, a
Roman numeral indicates the charge of the iron in the com-
pound. Thus the first is called iron (II) chloride, and the second,
iron (III) chloride. This system of using Roman numerals to indi-
cate the charge of the positive ions is called the Stock system.
Oxidation Numbers
Molecular substances do not contain ions. To use the Stock
system, you must understand a new term, the oxidation number.
The oxidation number, or oxidation state, is the charge an
atom would acquire if all of its bonds were treated as ionic bonds.
In assigning oxidation numbers, you treat all shared electrons as
if they were taken by the atom with the higher electronegativity.
For example, consider the dot structure of water.
SAMPLE PROBLEMS
PROBLEM
1. What is the oxidation state of the chlorine in KClO3?
SOLUTION
The sum of the oxidation states must be 0. Potassium is
always 1. Oxygen is 2, but there are three oxygens, for a
total of 6. For the sum to equal zero, the Cl must be 5,
[(1) (5) (6) 0]. The oxidation state of the Cl is
5. In the formula below, the oxidation state of each ele-
ment is written above it, and the total oxidation state for all
the atoms of that element is written below.
1 5 2
K Cl O3
1 5 6 0
SOLUTION
Recall that the sum of the oxidation states for an ion must
equal the charge of the ion, in this case, 2. Oxygen is 2,
but there are 4 oxygens, for a total of 8. Therefore the sul-
fur must be 6. (6) (8) 2. The oxidation state of the
sulfur is 6.
6 2 2
S O4
6 8 2
5 2 1
N O3
5 6 1
PRACTICE
4.6 Find the oxidation number of the underlined element in
each compound:
(a) KMnO4 (b) CaCO3 (c) FeSO4 (d) H2C2O4
PRACTICE
4.8 Apply the rules above to give the correct name for each of
the following substances.
(a) NO (b) N2O3 (c) Fe2O3 (d) CO (e) NiO
(f) ZnCl2 (g) SCl2
SAMPLE PROBLEMS
PROBLEM
1. What is the molar mass of aluminum nitrate?
SOLUTION
First, you need to know that the correct formula for alu-
minum nitrate is Al(NO3)3.
ALTERNATE SOLUTION
You could have found the molar mass of aluminum nitrate
by treating the nitrate ion as a single unit. A nitrate ion,
NO3 has a molar mass of 62 grams (the mass of one N, 14,
the mass of three O’s, 48). The molar mass of Al(NO3)3 is
then
1 Al 1 27 27 grams
3 NO3 3 62 186 grams
Total mass 213 grams
SOLUTION
If we round off the atomic masses to the nearest whole num-
ber, we get 137 2 35 207 grams. However, if we round
off the atomic masses to the nearest tenth, we get 137.3 2
35.5 208.3. Our molar mass, to the nearest whole num-
ber, is now 208 grams. Obviously, 208 grams is the more
accurate answer. When finding molar masses it is a good idea
to include at least one more decimal place in your atomic
masses than you need in your final answer.
PRACTICE
4.9 Find the molar mass to the nearest whole number of each
of the following compounds:
(a) NH4Cl (b) Fe2(SO4)3 (c) sodium sulfate (d) calci-
um carbonate (e) (NH4)2Cr2O7
Chemical Equations
When magnesium burns in air, magnesium combines with oxy-
gen, and a compound called magnesium oxide is formed. A
chemist may express this reaction with a word equation,
magnesium oxygen h magnesium oxide.
This equation is read “magnesium plus oxygen yields magnesium
oxide.” The material to the left of the “yields” sign, arrow (h),
is called the reactant(s), and the material to right of the arrow is
called the product(s).
Chemists find it more effective to express a chemical reaction
using the formulas of the substances involved. The word equation
above becomes:
Mg O2 h MgO
Balancing Equations
There are some special techniques for balancing difficult equa-
tions, which will be discussed in Chapter 13. Most simple chemi-
cal equations can be balanced by inspection. Follow these steps:
1. Write the correct formula for each substance in the reaction.
Separate the reactants from the products with the “yields”
sign and each substance from the next with a “.”
SAMPLE PROBLEMS
PROBLEM
1. Iron rusts in oxygen to form iron (III) oxide; write the
balanced equation.
SOLUTION
Writing the correct formulas gives us
Fe O2 h Fe2O3
On the left there is 1 atom of Fe and 2 atoms of O, while on
the right there are 2 atoms of Fe and 3 atoms of O. To make
the oxygens equal on both sides, put the coefficient 3 in
front of the O2, and a 2 in front of the Fe2O3. Now there are
6 oxygen atoms on both sides. There are also now 4 iron
atoms on the right, in the 2 Fe2O3, so we need a 4 in front of
the Fe on the left. The balanced equation is
4 Fe 3 O2 h 2 Fe2O3
PROBLEM
2. Balance the equation Na H2O h H2 NaOH
SOLUTION
In this case, the correct formulas are already given, so you
move directly to the next step. On the left, there are 1 Na, 2
Hs, and 1 O. On the right, there are 3 Hs, 1 Na, and 1 O.
(Note: An atom may appear in more than one substance on
PRACTICE
4.10 Balance each of the following chemical equations:
(a) Zn HCl S ZnCl2 H2
(b) FeCl3 NaOH h Fe(OH)3 NaCl
(c) HgO h Hg2O O2
(d) Silver sulfur h silver sulfide
(e) Chlorine aluminum bromide h bromine
aluminum chloride
Decomposition Reactions
Decomposition, or analysis, reactions are the exact opposite
of combination reactions. In a decomposition, a single substance
produces two or more simpler substances. When potassium chlo-
rate is heated, it produces oxygen and potassium chloride.
2 KClO3 h 2 KCl 3 O2
This is an example of a decomposition reaction. Hydrogen perox-
ide, H2O2, decomposes slowly on exposure to light.
2 H2O2 h 2 H2O O2
SAMPLE PROBLEMS
PROBLEM
1. Write a balanced equation for the reaction between
zinc metal and copper (II) sulfate.
SOLUTION
First write the formulas of the reactants: Zn CuSO4.
PROBLEM
2. Write a balanced equation for the reaction between
aluminum metal and a solution of zinc chloride.
The formulas of the products are AlCl3 and Zn. (If you have
forgotten how to find the correct formulas, you should
review “formula writing” at the beginning of this chapter.)
PROBLEM
3. Write a balanced equation for the reaction between
solutions of barium chloride and sodium sulfate.
SOLUTION
The formulas of the reactants are BaCl2 and Na2SO4.
PRACTICE
4.12 Write balanced chemical equations for each of the follow-
ing chemical reactions.
(a) Magnesium reacts with a solution of nickel(II) chlo-
ride.
CHAPTER REVIEW
CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE
1. Write a balanced equation for the reaction:
calcium water h calcium hydroxide hydrogen
After you have balanced the equation, find the total mass of
the reactants and the total mass of the products. Show that
the law of conservation of mass has been obeyed.
2. The carbonate, nitrate, sulfate, and phosphate ions listed on
page 161 each contain a nonmetal in its maximum oxidation
state.
(a) Find the oxidation states of the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur
and phosphorous in these ions.
(b) How is the maximum oxidation state related to the elec-
tron configuration of each of these elements?
(c) What would you predict should be the maximum oxida-
tion state of chlorine?
(d) Find the ion in Appendix 4 that shows chlorine in its
maximum oxidation state.
Fe2+
Fe2+
Fe2+
Fe2+
Fe2+
Fe2+
Fe2+
Fe2+
Ni2+
Answers:
Christopher Plumbous 5.
A chlorous line 4.
A BaNaNa (banana) 3.
Saint Nickelous 2.
Nickelous Cage 1.