Molecules, Ions, and Chemical Nomenclature

Vocabulary flashcards covering chemical formulas, ionic and covalent compounds, nomenclature rules, polyatomic ions, acids, alkanes, and molecular masses.

Molecule

The basic unit of a molecular element or covalent compound, consisting of two or more atoms bonded by the sharing of electrons.

Ion

A single atom or covalently bonded group of atoms that has an overall electrical charge.

Polyatomic Ion

A species consisting of two or more atoms covalently bonded together that carries an overall electrical charge and acts as a single unit in many reactions.

Chemical Formula

A notation consisting of element symbols with numerical subscripts that indicates the type and number of each atom present in the smallest unit of a substance.

Binary Ionic Compound

A compound formed between monatomic cations of a metal and monatomic anions of a nonmetal, where the metal loses electrons and the nonmetal gains electrons.

Binary Acid

An acid solution formed when certain gaseous compounds dissolve in water, named using the prefix hydro-, the nonmetal root, the suffix -ic, and the word acid.

Oxoacid

An acid compound containing hydrogen and an oxoanion, named by replacing the anion suffix -ate with -ic or -ite with -ous, followed by the word acid.

Binary Covalent Compound

A compound typically formed between two nonmetals, named by keeping the full name of the first element and adding the suffix -ide to the root of the second element, using Greek prefixes to indicate atom counts.

Hydrocarbon

A compound consisting entirely of carbon and hydrogen atoms.

Alkane

The simplest class of hydrocarbons, named using a root name indicating the number of carbon atoms followed by the suffix -ane.

Molecular Mass

The sum of the atomic masses of the atoms contained in a single molecule, expressed in atomic mass units ($\text{amu}$).

Formula Mass

The mass of an ionic compound's formula unit, calculated by summing the atomic masses of all atoms or ions in its chemical formula.

Diatomic Molecule

A molecule made of two atoms, such as elemental hydrogen ($\text{H}_2$), nitrogen ($\text{N}_2$), oxygen ($\text{O}_2$), fluorine ($\text{F}_2$), chlorine ($\text{Cl}_2$), bromine ($\text{Br}_2$), or iodine ($\text{I}_2$).

Tetratomic Molecule

A molecule consisting of four atoms of the same element, such as tetraphosphorus ($\text{P}_4$).

Octatomic Molecule

A molecule consisting of eight atoms of the same element, such as octasulfur ($\text{S}_8$) or octaselenium ($\text{Se}_8$).

Hydrate

An ionic compound that has a specific number of water molecules bound within its structure, designated in its name with a Greek numerical prefix and the word hydrate.

Oxoanion

An anion containing one or more oxygen atoms bonded to a central element, named using the root of the element along with prefixes (per-, hypo-) and suffixes (-ate, -ite) based on the relative number of oxygen atoms.

Monatomic Ion

An ion consisting of a single atom that has gained or lost one or more electrons to obtain the same number of electrons as the nearest noble gas.