ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY

ENC115C/SEH115B

CHAPTER 2
Chemical Substances

Mr. R. Berkers
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
 Chemical substances and formulas

Molecule:

• A molecule is defined as the smallest particle of matter (element or compound) which

can exist independently.
• A molecule may be made up of two or more atoms of the same or different elements
that are chemically bonded together.

Physicists at the DoE’s Berkeley Lab in California captured the first ever high-resolution
images of a molecule as it makes and breaks chemical bonds to form different molecules.
As you can see above, the most shocking thing is that these molecules are virtually
identical to the skeletal diagrams that chemists have been using for almost a century.

2
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/157048-the-first-ever-images-of-a-molecule-as-it-makes-and-breaks-atomic-bonds
 Chemical substances and formulas

Empirical Formula:

• This is the formula that gives the simplest whole-number ratio of atoms in a compound.
• An empirical formula makes no mention of the arrangement or number of atoms in the
compound.
• Thus the empirical formula gives the proportions of the elements present in a compound
but not the actual numbers of the atoms present in the compound (this is called the
molecular formula).
• The empirical formula also does not give the arrangement of the atoms present in the
compound (this is called the structural formula).

3
 Chemical substances and formulas

Molecular Formula:

• A molecular formula indicates what elements are present in one molecule. The formula
will give the number of atoms of each element present in one molecule.
• A molecular formula will give no information about the structure of the compound.

4
 Chemical substances and formulas

Ion:

• An ion is an atom or molecule that has a net electrical charge.

• The net electrical charge is the result of adding or removing electrons (which are
negatively charged) from an atom or molecule.
• This means that in an ion, the total number of electrons is nor equal to the total number
of protons.
• If the number of electrons in an atom or molecule is less than the number of protons,
the particle is positively charged and called a cation.
• If the number of electrons in an atom or molecule is more than the number of protons,
the particle is negatively charged and called a anion.

5
https://www.ecofarmingdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/anion-cation-graphic.jpg
 Chemical substances and formulas

- +

Reduction Oxidation
M+ + e- → M X- → X + e-

Electrolytic Cell:
• Interchange of ions and atoms due to the addition or removal of electrons from the
external circuit.
• Cations move to the cathode, take electrons from the cathode and become neutral.
• Anions give up their extra electrons to the anode and are oxidized to neutral atoms at the
anode.
• This can be remember by using the word OILRIG:

Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain (of electrons)

6
https://byjus.com/jee/electrolysis/
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of Ionic compounds:

• Most cations and anions can combine to form neutral, solid compounds that are usually
known as salts.
• The net charge of an ionic compound must be zero. Therefore, the number of cations
and anions in an ionic compound must be balanced to make an electrically neutral
molecule.
• An ionic compound is named first by its cation and then by its anion.

7
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introchem/chapter/naming-ionic-compounds/
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Most common cations

8
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Most common anions

9
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of Ionic compounds:

• The cation has the same name as its element. For example, K +1 is called  the potassium
ion, just as K is called the potassium atom.
• The anion is named by taking the elemental name, removing the ending, and adding
“ide”. For example, F-1 is called fluoride, for the elemental name, fluorine. The “ine” was
removed and replaced with “ide”.
• To name a compound, the cation name and the anion named are added together. For
example, NaF is also known as sodium fluoride.
• A few simple polyatomic anions also have names ending in –ide, i.e.
OH- = Hydroxide ion
CN- = Cyanide ion
O22- = Peroxide ion

10
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of Ionic compounds:

• Polyatomic (many-atom) anions containing oxygen are called oxyanions. The

one with fewer oxygens ends in –ite, the one with more oxygens ends in -ate i.e.
NO2¯ = Nitrite ion NO3¯ = Nitrate ion
SO32- = Sulfite ion SO42- = Sulfate ion
• Prefixes are used when the series of oxyanions of an element extends to four
members. The prefix per- indicates one more O atom than the oxyanion ending
in -ate; the prefix hypo- indicates one less O atom than the oxyanion ending in –
ite, i.e

Perchlorate → Chlorate → Chlorite → Hypochlorite

11
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of Ionic compounds:

• Anions derived by adding H+ to an oxyanion are named by adding as a prefix

the word hydrogen or dihydrogen, as appropriate, i.e
CO32- = Carbonate ion → HCO32- = Hydrogen Carbonate ion
PO43- = Phosphate ion → H2PO4¯ = Dihydrogen Phosphate ion
• For a two element ionic compound, the naming is simple. The first part of the
name is the name of the metal element. The second part is the name of the
nonmetal element, with the suffix “-ide.”, i.e

Al2O3: Al2 = Aluminum; O3 = Oxygen. So the name would be

“Aluminum Oxide.”
FeCl3: Fe = Iron; Cl3 = Chlorine. So the name would be
"Iron Chloride."
SnO2: Sn = Tin; O2 = Oxygen. So the name would be
“Tin Oxide.”

12
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of polyatomic compounds containing polyatomic ions:

• Polyatomic ions are built off of groups of atoms that are covalently bonded
together (they are bonded together by sharing electron pairs between the
atoms), and the entire group has a positive or negative charge.
• Because the atoms in a polyatomic ion are usually covalently bonded to one
another, they stay together as a single, charged unit.
• An example of a polyatomic ion is the nitrate ion, NO3-, which contains one
nitrogen atom and three oxygen atoms.
• When naming polyatomic compounds the following rules apply:
 Add a hydrogen to the beginning of the compound:
The word “Hydrogen” is added to the beginning of the compound name.
This reduces the negative charge by one.
For example, “Carbonate” CO32- becomes “Hydrogen carbonate” HCO3¯.
 Remove an Oxygen from the compound.
The charge stays the same and the ending of the compound changes from
“-ate” to “–ite”.
For example: NO3 to NO2 goes from “nitrate” to “nitrite”.

13
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of polyatomic compounds containing polyatomic ions:

 Replace the central atom with another from the same periodic group.
For example, sulfate SO42- can become Selenate SeO42-.
 Memorize the most common ion groups.
These are the basis for forming most polyatomic compounds. Listed in order of
increasing negative charge, they are:

Hydroxide ion: OH¯

Nitrate ion: NO3¯
Hydrogen carbonate ion: HCO3¯
Permanganate ion: MnO4¯
Carbonate ion: CO32-
Chromate ion: CrO42-
Dichromate ion: Cr2O72-
Sulfate ion: SO42-
Sulphite ion: SO32-
Thiosulfate ion: S2O32-
Phosphate ion: PO43-
Ammonium ion: NH4+

14
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of polyatomic compounds containing polyatomic ions:

 Build compound names based off the list on the previous page. Associate
whatever element(s) is attached to the group ion and name accordingly. i.e.
element name and polyatomic ion combined.
 If the element comes in front of the polyatomic ion, the name of the element is
simply added to the beginning of the compound name, for example Potassium (K)
and th polyatomic ion Permanganate (MnO4¯ ) form the compound Potassium
Permanganate KMnO4.
 If more than one polyatomic ion is present (for example 2 x NO 3- groups) the
polyatomic ion is enclosed in parentheses, for example Ca(NO 3)2, not CaNO32 or
CaN2O6. The name of this ionic compound is simply calcium nitrate, not calcium
dinitrate.

15
 Naming of Chemical Compounds

Naming of covalent compounds

• Covalent compounds are formed by two or more non-metal elements.

• The name for the compound is based off how many atoms are present.
• The prefix attached is the Latin term for the number of molecules:

 1 atom – “Mono-“
 2 atoms – “Di-“
 3 atoms – “Tri-“
 4 atoms – “Tetra-“
 5 atoms – “Penta-“
 6 atoms – “Hexa-“
 7 atoms – “Hepta-“
 8 atoms – “Octa-“
 9 atoms – “Nona-“
 10 atoms – “Deca-“

• Example: CO would be Carbon Monoxide and CO2 would be Carbon Dioxide.

16