General Chemistry: Chemical Nomenclature and Intermolecular Forces

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering compound nomenclature rules, electronegativity scales, molecular polarity, and types of intermolecular forces.

Chemical nomenclature

The system used to name chemical compounds based on their elements and chemical composition.

Ionic compounds

Compounds formed between metals and nonmetals or ions.

Covalent compounds

Compounds formed between two or more nonmetals.

Acids

Compounds that produce hydrogen ions ($H^+$) in water.

Binary acids

Acids composed of hydrogen and one nonmetal, named using the pattern hydro- + nonmetal root + -ic acid.

Oxyacids

Acids containing hydrogen, oxygen, and another element, where an -ate anion ending becomes -ic acid and an -ite ending becomes -ous acid.

Intermolecular forces

Forces of attraction or repulsion between molecules that hold molecules together and affect physical properties.

Inter-ionic forces

Forces of attraction between ions that involve charged particles (such as $Na^+$ and $Cl^-$).

Electronegativity

The ability of an atom to attract shared electrons toward itself.

Nonpolar covalent bond

A chemical bond characterized by an electronegativity difference between $0$ and $0.4$.

Polar covalent bond

A chemical bond characterized by an electronegativity difference between $0.4$ and $1.8$.

Ionic bond

A bond characterized by an electronegativity difference above $1.8$.

Polar molecules

Molecules with unequal sharing of electrons, partial positive and negative ends, and an overall molecular dipole moment.

Nonpolar molecules

Molecules that have no overall molecular dipole because their bond dipoles cancel out or their bonds are nonpolar.

Dipole-dipole forces

Attractive forces between polar molecules occurring when opposite partial charges ($\delta^+$ and $\delta^-$) attract one another.

Ion-dipole forces

Forces of attraction between a charged ion and a polar molecule, commonly observed when ionic compounds dissolve in water.

Hydration

The interaction of water molecules with ions.

London dispersion forces

The weakest intermolecular attractive forces, caused by temporary dipoles induced by the movement of electrons; also known as induced-dipole–induced-dipole attraction.

Temporary dipole

A brief separation of electrical charges caused by electron movement within atoms or molecules.

Hydrogen bond

A special type of dipole-dipole attraction occurring between hydrogen attached to a highly electronegative atom and an atom of $N$, $O$, or $F$ in another molecule.

Van der Waals forces

A category of intermolecular forces comprising dipole-dipole forces, ion-dipole forces, and London dispersion forces.

Johannes Diderik van der Waals

A Dutch scientist born November 23, 1837, in Leiden, Netherlands, who presented the non-ideality of real gases in 1873 and contributed to the study of intermolecular attraction.

Dipole

The separation of positive and negative charges in a system or molecule.

Ion

A charged atom or group of atoms.