Study Notes on Charge States, Chemical Formulas, and Quantum Theory

These flashcards cover key concepts from the lecture about ions, chemical formulas, and the properties of different molecular structures.

What is an anion?

An anion is an atom or compound with a negative charge.

Give an example of an anion and its charge.

Chloride (Cl-) is an example of an anion with a net negative charge of -1.

What is a cation?

A cation is an atom or compound with a positive charge.

What charge does sodium (Na) have as a cation?

Sodium has a +1 charge as a cation.

What is the formula for sodium chloride?

The formula for sodium chloride is NaCl.

How does the charge of an anion relate to the charge of a cation in a compound?

The charge must be balanced; if an anion is present, a cation must also be present in a ratio that balances the charge.

What is an empirical formula?

An empirical formula is a representation of the elemental composition of a molecule with the smallest whole number ratio of elements.

What is a molecular formula?

A molecular formula specifies the total number of each element in a molecule.

Describe a structural formula.

A structural formula explicitly shows the connectivity of atoms in a molecule.

What does the charge in a chemical formula represent?

The charge represents the difference between the number of protons and electrons in a compound.

What does the presence of a cation indicate?

The presence of a cation indicates that there must be an anion present to balance the charge.

What did Max Planck propose to explain black body radiation?

Planck proposed that energy is quantized rather than continuous, leading to the discovery of Planck's constant (h=6.626×10−34 J s)