M.

Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science

CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

Name: ___________________

Date: ___________________

How to Count Atoms

1. The symbol of an element represents one atom of that element.

ex. Ca = 1 atom

2. A subscript written at the lower right behind the element symbol indicates the number of atoms of
that element.

ex. N2 = 2 atoms

3. A subscript outside of a bracket means that all the elements inside the bracket are multiplied by
that number.

ex. Ba3(PO4)2 = 3 atoms of Ba, 2 atoms of P, 8 atoms of O

4. A coefficient written in front of an element, or a compound multiplies the entire

element/compound by that same number.

ex. 4 Cu(NO3)2 = 4 atoms of Cu, 8 atoms of N, 24 atoms of O

H2SO4

Cu(NO3)2

MgO

3 HNO3

5 C2H3O2 (CH3COOH)

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 M. Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science
CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

Binary compound - chemical compound composed of only two elements

A binary compound consists of a combination of just two elements. Compounds that end in IDE indicate
that they contain only two elements. The first element is usually a positively charged metal, and the
second element is usually a negatively charged non-metal. The positively charged ion is the name of the
metal, while the negatively charged ion consists of the stem plus the suffix IDE.
Stems of the most used elements:
Element Stem
Oxygen ox
Chlorine chlor
Carbon carb
Iodine iod
Bromine brom
Selenium selen
Nitrogen nitr
Phosphorus phospho
Fluorine fluor
Sulfur sulf or sulfur

Ionic compounds are named as metal non-metal ides, for example:

● sodium chloride (NaCl)
● magnesium oxide (MgO)
● calcium fluoride (CaF2)
● Iron (II) oxide (FeO)
● Iron (III) oxide (Fe2O3)
That is, the name of the metal followed by the name of the non-metal with its ending changed to - ide.
In this context, the -ide ending signifies a simple negative ion containing only the non-metal whose name
appears in the prefix to the name.

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 M. Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science
CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

More examples are:

● sodium oxide (Na2O)
● calcium chloride (CaCl2)
These stems are placed in the second part of the binary compound's chemical name, before the -ide. Here
are some examples using the element stems and the suffix ide.
CaO is calcium oxide because you have a calcium atom “bonded” to an oxygen atom. Since this is a
binary compound (meaning that it is a compound comprised of only two elements) there is a positive and
a negative ion. The positive ion is calcium, because it is a metal, so the oxygen is the negative ion. Now
we write calcium as the name of the metal, and ox as the prefix of the second word (because oxygen's
stem is ox), lastly, we attach the suffix; ide behind the ox to get the name calcium oxide.

AlN is aluminum nitride: there is an aluminum atom bonded to a nitrogen atom. Since this is a binary
compound there is a positive and a negative ion. The positive ion is aluminum, because it is a metal, so
the nitrogen is the negative ion. Now we write aluminum as the name of the metal, and nitr as the prefix
of the second word (because nitrogen's stem is nitr). Lastly, we attach the suffix; ide behind the nitr to
get the name aluminum nitride.

K2S is potassium sulfide because you have a potassium atom bonded to a sulfur atom. Since this is a
binary compound there is a positive and a negative ion. The positive ion is potassium, because it is a
metal, so the sulfur is the negative ion. Now we write potassium as the name of the metal, and sulf as
the prefix of the second word (because sulfur's stem is sulf). Lastly, we attach the suffix ideafter the sulf
to get the name potassium sulfide.

NaCl is sodium chloride because you have a sodium atom bonded to a chlorine atom. Since this is a
binary compound there is a positive and a negative ion. The positive ion is sodium, because it is a metal,
so the chlorine is the negative ion. Now we write sodium as the name of the metal, and chlor as the
prefix of the second word (because chlorine's stem is chlor). Lastly, we attach the suffix; ide behind the
chlor to get the name sodium chloride.

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 M. Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science
CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

Remember that the positively charged ion is the name of the metal, while the negatively charged ion
consists of its stem plus a suffix (so far, we have only used - ide). Na is the metal and has a positive
charge of 1; Cl is the second part of the compound, a non-metal, and has a charge of -1. We now find
that the ammonium radical, NH4+, is considered as a simple positive ion, and even though it is not a
metal, it would go at the front of a compound name. Here are some examples:
NH4Cl is ammonium chloride because you have an ammonium radical (polyatomic cation) bonded to a
chlorine atom. Since this is considered, a polyatomic compound there are positive and negative ions. The
positive ion is ammonium even though it is not a metal. That makes the chlorine the negative ion. Now
we write ammonium as the name of the metal, and chlor as the prefix of the second word (because
chlorine's stem is chlor). Lastly, we attach the suffix; ide behind the chlor to get the compound's name,
ammonium chloride. Can you name the following binary compound - (NH4)2S?
There are also two negative groups which are considered as special cases: the hydroxide radical, (OH)-,
and the cyanide radical, (CN)-: they are considered as simple negative ions. This means that they are
added at the end of the compound name.
KCN is potassium cyanide because you have a potassium atom bonded to a cyanide atom. Since this is a
binary compound, there is a positive and a negative ion. The positive ion is potassium because it has a
positive charge. CN-, the cyanide ion, is considered the negative ion. Now we write potassium as the
name of the metal, and cyanide is the negative ion. Mg(OH)2 is magnesium hydroxide NH4CN is
ammonium cyanide.
Try the following examples:
Formula Name

K2O

CaO

MgO

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 M. Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science
CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

NaF

ZnS

RbBr

Al2O3

Na3N

KI

AlCl3

BaS

Al2S3

SrF2

Covalent compounds are named in a similar way, but a prefix is added to the name of the second
non-metal to indicate how many atoms of this element are present in the compound. For example
● sulphur difluoride (SF2)
● phosphorus trichloride (PCl3)
● sulphur tetrafluoride (SF4)
● phosphorus pentachloride (PCl5)
● sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

Some metallic ions can have two or more valence or oxidation states, the one with the lower valence has
the ending OUS while the one with the higher valence has the ending IC. Under the new international
system, the valence is designated by a Roman numeral.
Fe+2 is the ferrous ion or iron (II) ion. Fe+3 is the ferric ion or iron (III) ion.
Cu+1 is the cuprous ion or copper (I) ion.
Cu+2 is the cupric ion or copper (II) ion.

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 M. Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science
CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

Pb+2 is the plumbous ion or lead (II) ion, Pb+4 is the plumbic ion or lead (IV) ion.
Sn+2 is the stannous ion or tin (II) ion, Sn+2 is the stannic ion or tin (IV) ion.

The rules given above apply to compounds of these elements in the same manner.

CuS is cupric sulfide or copper (II) sulfide, FeCl2 is ferrous chloride or iron (II) chloride. We will be using the
Roman Numerals designation.

The last thing I want to mention s that when we are writing ionic formula, the subscripts, must be in their
lowest possible values. The chemical formula for magnesium oxide is written as Mg2O2. This formula is
derived from the criss-cross rule: Mg2+ & O2-. When you criss-cross the charges, the formula is written as
Mg2O2. The common factor is 2, and therefore you divide both subscripts by that value. You will notice that
the correct formula is written as MgO.

Another example is the compound lead (IV) sulphide. Pb+4 and S2-. Criss-crossing produces the formula Pb2S4.
This can further be reduced to PbS2.

When naming binary covalent compounds formed between two non-metals, another system of
nomenclature is preferred in which the numbers of each atom in a molecule are specified by a Greek prefix.
Number Prefix
1 mono
2 di
3 tri
4 tetra
5 penta
6 hexa
7 hepta
8 octa
9 nona
10 deca

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 M. Papagapiou – SNC2D1: Academic Grade 10 Science
CHEMISTRY – Counting Atoms and Writing Ionic Chemical Formulae
Semester: _______, Month: _______, Year: _______

NO2 is nitrogen dioxide

NO2 is nitrogen dioxide because you have a nitrogen atom bonded to two oxygen atoms. Since this is a
binary compound of two non-metals, we use the new way of naming the compound. We keep nitrogen as
the first name and attach the prefix di before the oxygen because there are two atoms of oxygen. We
then add the ox stem from oxygen after the di prefix. We attach the ide suffix after ox, and we have the
finished product, nitrogen dioxide.
N2O4 is dinitrogen tetroxide
PCl3 is phosphorus trichloride. In some cases the prefix mono is used to avoid ambiguity.

Examples: CO is carbon monoxide, CO2 is carbon dioxide