Wednesday, 11 November 2020

PEI 3

Notion of Valences

Objectives

 Recall basic definition, molecules, compounds, atomicity and radicals

 Write chemical formulae of elements and compounds
 Use of valences to write chemical formulae
 Chemical Nomenclature

Definitions

-A compound is a substance formed by the chemical combination of two or more elements in

fixed proportions by mass. Examples of compounds are: Water , salt, Ammonia etc

-A molecule is the smallest particle of an element or compound that can normally exist
independently. The molecule of an element consists only of atoms of that element while the
molecule of a compound consists of atoms of two or more elements, chemically combined
together.

-Atomicity: It is the number of atoms present in a single molecule of a chemical element. The
table below shows the atomicities of some elements.
 Depending on the atomicity of a molecule, it is described as:
• Monatomic: if it is made up of only one atom e.g. carbon (C)
• Diatomic: if it is made up of two atoms chemically combined together e.g. hydrogen (H2)
• Triatomic: if consists of three atoms chemically combined together e.g. ozone (O3)
• Tetra atomic: if consists of four atoms chemically combined together e.g. phosphorus (P4)
• Polyatomic: if consists of many atoms chemically combined together e.g. sulphur (S8)

-RADICALS: A radical is a group of atoms which function as a single unit but cannot exist
independently. Radicals normally exist as part of compounds. Examples of radicals include:
Hydroxide (OH-) ; Carbonate ( CO2-3); Nitrate ( NO-3); Nitrite (NO-2)

VALENCY
It the combing power of an element or radical. Below are the valences of elements in various
group
Group Grp 1 Grp 2 Grp 3 Grp 4 Grp 5 Grp 6 Grp 7 Grp 8
Valences 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 0

NB: Members of the transition metals display a number of valences

Chemical formulae or formulas

A chemical formula is a shorthand method of representing an element or a compound, using
symbols
Chemical formulae of elements
The chemical formula of an element is its symbol and its atomicity written as a sub-script to the
symbol. The formula represents one molecule of an element e.g. H2, P4 etc
Chemical formulae of compounds
The chemical formula of a compound consists of symbols of the elements that make up the
compound. Numbers apart from 1 are usually written as sub-scripts to symbols of certain
elements to indicate the number of atoms of those elements present.
-The formula of a compound represents one molecule of that compound or the smallest possible
unit of that element. Below are the formulae of some compounds:
 H2O, H2SO4, CaCO3
The use of brackets in chemical formulae

When more than one unit of a particular radical is present in a compound, the radical is written in
brackets in the formula and the number of units present is indicated as a sub-script to the bracket
e.g.
Ca(OH) 2 = calcium hydroxide
Fe (NO3)3 = iron (III) nitrate
(NH4) 2 SO4 = ammonium sulphate
A number before the formula of an element or compound

A number written before the formula of an element or compound indicates the number of
molecules present e.g.
3O2 = Oxygen
5H2O = water
3(NH4) 3 PO4 = ammonium phosphate