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Here's a video discussion of some chemical nomenclature (11min): CrashCourse Chemistry: How To Speak Chemistrian, on YouTube

Want to learn and practice nomenclature in a more interactive way? Check out my new project, Chemiatria!

Chemical Nomenclature

What is it?

Chemical nomenclature is the names we use for chemicals. For instance, H2O is called "water", and CH4 (the gas you burn in a stove) is called "methane". You should learn the chemical nomenclature here on this page now, so that you will be able to understand when it is used.

The Basics

Here is some important info about how we write chemicals.

  1. Elements have symbols of one or two letters. The first is a capital letter (ABC). If there is a second letter, it is a lower-case letter (abc). Although Korean doesn't have capital and lower-case letters, you need to pay attention to them for chemistry, because you can get very confused if you don't! For instance, "m" is one unit, and "M" is a different unit. "K" is the symbol for one type of constant, and "k" is the symbol for a different type. You need to remember that capital letter symbols are usually different from lower-case symbols. For instance, Co is cobalt, a metal element next to iron, and CO is carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas made of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom.
  2. We write the charge of a chemical using a superscript, which looks like this: H+ or H. If we write just H, that means an H atom, which is one proton and one electron. H+ means 1 H atom – 1 electron, so it means just one proton, also called hydrogen ion. If we write H this means one hydrogen atom + one electron, so a proton and 2 electrons, also called hydride ion. If there's an number in the superscript, that says how many electrons are added or removed. For instance, Ca2+ is a calcium atom – 2 electrons, or calcium ion. S2– is sulfide, or sulfur + 2 electrons.
  3. We indicate the number of atoms of a particular type using a subscript, like this: CO2. This means one carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms. If we write O2 that means the oxygen molecule, which is two atoms of oxygen connected together. Sometimes people might write O2 to mean the same thing. If the number comes first, though, it has a different meaning. 2O means 2 atoms of oxygen that aren't connected to anything.
  4. If we want to show how many protons and neutrons are present in an atom, we can use the mass number, as a superscript before the element symbol, such as 13C. This means carbon with (protons + neutrons) = 13. You can tell that this is different from the charge, because the charge will always include + or – and come after the symbol.
  5. Most molecules or ions that are stable have an even number of electrons. If they have an odd number of electrons, this is called a radical. For instance, H is a radical, because it has one electron. Because this is unusual, it might be indicated with a dot, like this: H. For instance, water is H2O, and if you remove hydrogen ion, you are left with hydroxide ion, OH. If you remove H from water, you are left with OH molecule, which is neutral. This is also called hydroxyl radical, written OH.
  6. The phase of a substance is often indicated by a letter in () after the sumbol. For instance, He is almost always a gas, written He(g). If it's a liquid (4.2K or below, less than -269° C) that is written He(l). You'll probably never hear about He(s), since it would be very hard to make it a solid. You might also see something written with (aq), which means "dissolved in water". For instance, NaCl(aq) means salt dissolved in water so there is no solid left. Or you might just see K+(aq), meaning potassium ions dissolved in water.

Elements

There are lots of elements and you don't need to memorize them all. Here are a few that you should learn right now, though, because they are common or important, so that you won't be confused when they are mentioned later. They are organized by their type.

Naming Common Positive Ions (Cations)

"[element name](charge in Roman numerals if needed) ion"

Cation is another word for positive ion. The common positive ions are the ions of the alkali and alkaline earth metals and ammonium, NH4+. The alkali metals form +1 cations, such as Na+ and K+. The alkaline earth metals form +2 cations, such as Ca2+ and Mg2+. The hydrogen ion, H+ is a very common cation. For these cations, you can call them "[element name] ion", such as sodium ion or calcium ion.

You'll also see transition metal cations or main group metal cations, but it is harder to predict what charge they will have, especially because some of them can have different charges, like iron, which is commonly Fe2+ or Fe3+. The charge on a transition metal cation can also be indicated using Roman numerals in parentheses, which looks like Fe(II) or Fe(III). The Roman numerals you will need to know for chemistry are:

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IIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIXX
For cations that have uncertain charge, you should call them "[element name](charge in Roman numerals) ion". For instance, iron(II) ion or sometimes just Fe(II).

Sometimes people use special names for these ions, in which the higher charge ion is called "[name]-ic ion" and the lower charge ion is called "[name]-ous ion", such as ferrous for Fe(II) and ferric for Fe(III), or cuprous ion for Cu(I) and cupric ion for Cu(II). I think this is most common for Fe, and I've never heard anyone call nickel(II) nickelous ion, except in our textbook, because that sounds ridiculous.

Here's a list of common cations with less predictable charges: Ag+, Cu+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Hg22+, Hg2+, Pb2+, Sn2+, Al3+, Fe3+. Elements not on the list above, that you may see soon anyway: zinc(II): Zn2+, cadmium(II): Cd2+, cobalt(II): Co2+, manganese(II): Mn2+, nickel(II): Ni2+, chromium(III): Cr3+.

When do you use Roman numerals? If the cation is not an alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, Zn, or Al. All other transition metal or main group cations should have Roman numerals to indicate the charge.

Naming Common Negative Ions (Anions)

"[base name] + (-ide,-ate, or -ite)"

Anion is another word for negative ion. Common negative ions are the halide ions, formed from the halogen elements: fluoride, F; chloride, Cl; bromide, Br; and iodide, I. As you may have noticed, the names of anions have "-ide" at the end when they are formed from elements. Other examples include oxide, O2–, sulfide, S2–, and nitride, N3–.

There are also many important polyatomic anions, which means anions that include more than one atom. These include toxic cyanide ion, CN, common hydroxide ion, OH, and peroxide ion, O22–. Other important anions include acetate ion (C2H3O2), which is in vinegar, the chlorate ion (ClO3), the perchlorate ion (ClO4) which is often explosive, the nitrate ion (NO3), the carbonate ion ((CO32–) found in shells, the sulfate ion (SO42–), and the phosphate ion (PO43–). All of these end in "-ate", which means that they have more oxygen. Also, notice that "per-___-ate" means more oxygen than just "-ate", as in perchlorate.

Less common but still important are some "-ite" anions, which have less oxygen, such as nitrite (NO2), sulfite (SO32–), chlorite (ClO2) and hypochlorite (ClO). Notice that "hypo-___-ite" means less oxygen than just "-ite" as in hypochlorite. Sulfite and nitrite are used to preserve foods. Sulfite salts are used in wine, dried fruit and preserved radish (mu). Nitrite salts are used in preserved meats.

One more rule says that if you take an anion like carbonate or sulfate and add one hydrogen ion, then you call that "bicarbonate" (HCO3) or "bisulfate" (HSO4). Or you might see it called "hydrogen carbonate" or "hydrogen sulfate". Note that because we added a hydrogen ion, the charge on the bicarbonate ion is one less than the charge on the carbonate ion. Also, note that "disulfate" is S2O72–, quite different from bisulfate.

There are many other polyatomic ions, but you don't need to learn them all now. Try to remember the ones listed above and the naming patterns. For instance, I've listed 4 anions with chlorine and oxygen. You would name similar ions based on bromine or iodine the same way, such as iodate or bromite.

Chemical Nomenclature for ionic compounds

"[cation name] + [anion name]"

Ionic compounds are compounds that include at least two components, a positive ion and a negative ion. Often the positive ion is a metal element ion and the negative ion is a non-metal ion. To name an ionic compound, you usually just give the cation followed by the anion, such as "sodium chloride" or "ammonium nitrate". If the cation is the type that could have different charges, than you should say what the charge is, such as "mercury(I) iodide" or "cupric sulfate".

How do you tell if a compound is ionic? It's ionic if it starts with a metal or ammonium (NH4+). If it starts with hydrogen it is an acid, not ionic.

Chemical Nomenclature for Acids

"(hydro if -ide)[anion base name] + (-ic if -ide, -ate; -ous if -ite) + acid"

Acid usually means an anion combined with the hydrogen ion as the cation. For instance, HCl is a common acid, which is the hydrogen ion and the chloride anion. If the anion ends in "-ide" then usually the acid is called "hydro-___-ic acid" such as "hydrochloric acid" for HCl. You'll see this for all the "hydrohalic acids" which are H + a halogen, such as "hydrofluoric acid" or "hydroiodic acid". You might also see "hydrocyanic acid" for HCN. If the anion ends in "-ate" than you call the acid "___-ic acid", such as "sulfuric acid", which is H2SO4, or "nitric acid", HNO3. If the anion ends in "-ite" than the acid name is "___-ous acid", such as "hypochlorous acid" for HClO. Notice that earlier "-ic" and "-ous" meant more and less charge for cations, such as ferric and ferrous ions of iron. Now it also means more and less oxygen in acids.

A slight complication is that acids that exist as gases are sometimes named differently in the gas form than in the solution form. For example, hydrochloric acid or hydrosulfuric acid usually refers to HCl(aq) or H2S(aq). If you are talking about HCl(g) you would say hydrogen chloride (naming it like the covalent compound but without the prefix, see below) or hydrogen sulfide for H2S(g).

Chemical Nomenclature for non-metal compounds

"(prefix, not mono)[less anion-like atom name] + (prefix)[more anion-like atom name]-ide"

Non-metal compounds are often called covalent compounds. Here we will only learn rules for compounds that contain two elements in simple ratios. There are many other rules for more complicated situations that you might someday learn in an organic chemistry class. These binary covalent compounds are named following a different rule from ionic compounds. You will need these prefixes which indicate how many of each type of atom are present:

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monoditritetrapentahexaheptaoctanonadeca
The prefixes come from Greek. You will put the element that is more left on the periodic table first, unless it is oxygen, which is always last unless it is in a compound with fluorine. This follows the same pattern as ionic compounds. In ionic compounds, the cation is written first, and you will notice that it is usually more to the left in the periodic table than the anion, which is written last. When you name covalent compounds, the atom that's more like an anion is written last. Fluorine is always most "anionic", and oxygen is next most "anionic", so they will always be last. (Fluorine is actually most electronegative, but we will study this concept much later, which is why right now I'm calling it "anion-like".) If both atoms are in the same group (same column of the periodic table) then the lower one is named first. Notice that the two most "anion-like", F and O, are in the upper right of the periodic table. The atom written second, that's more "anion-like" is named like an anion, with the "-ide" ending. For example, CO: carbon is on the left, so we can write "monocarbon monoxide". Actually people usually just call it "carbon monoxide". You can skip "mono" for the first element. For instance, SO3 is called "sulfur trioxide" and N2O4 is called "dinitrogen tetroxide". XeO2 is xenon dioxide, even though xenon is more to the right than oxygen, because oxygen is more like an anion than anything except fluorine. If the compound involves hydrogen, then you can leave out the prefixes, such as "hydrogen chloride" for HCl or "hydrogen sulfide" for H2S, because the numbers of each atom can be predicted as if it were an ionic substance. But actually many compounds of hydrogen have special names, such as "ammonia" for NH3, "methane" for CH4, "borane" for BH3, "silane" for SiH4 and "phosphine" for PH3. You should learn the first two of these now.

Summary Tables

Key info for common elements
Element nameSymbolAtomic numberCommonly found as...
HydrogenH1H2(g), water (H2O), acid (H+(aq))
HeliumHe2He(g), He(l) if you want to make things very cold
LithiumLi3Li+ always, (aq) or in solids with anions, lithium metal Li(s) only in chem class
CarbonC6covalent compounds, making 4 bonds
NitrogenN7N2(g) in air, in ammonia (NH3(g or l)), in basic covalent compounds, in proteins
OxygenO8O2(g) in air, in water, in rock and glass, usually combined with Si
FluorineF9F(aq) or with cations in rock, in covalent compounds with carbon (non-stick pans)
Sodium (Natrium)Na11Na+(aq) or with anions in salts, sodium metal (Na(s)) only in chem class
MagnesiumMg12Mg2+(aq) or with anions in salts and rocks
Aluminum (Aluminium)Al13Al3+ with anions in rocks and salts, industrially made Al(s) metal
SiliconSi14industrially made Si(s) in computer chips, Si(IV)oxides in sand, glass, most rock
PhosphorusP15phosphates: PO43–, P2O74–, etc in rock, DNA
SulfurS16S8(s), S2– or sulfate (SO42–) in salts or rocks
ChlorineCl17Cl(aq) or with cations in salts, Cl2(g) or ClO(aq) in disinfectants
Potassium (kalium)K19K+(aq) or with anions in salts, potassium metal (K(s)) only in chem class
CalciumCa20Ca2+(aq) or with anions in salts and rocks
IronFe26Fe(s) metal industrially made, Fe(II) or Fe(III) oxides or sulfides and other minerals
CopperCu29natural Cu(s) metal, Cu(I) or Cu(II) salts or minerals, usually blue or green
BromineBr35Br(aq) or with cations in salts
SilverAg47natural Ag(s) metal, usually Ag(I) in salts or sulfide minerals
TinSn50industrially made Sn(s) in alloys, Sn(II) or Sn(IV) salts and oxide or sulfide minerals
IodineI53I(aq) or with cations in salts
GoldAu79natural Au(s) metal, rarely Au(I) or Au(III) salts
MercuryHg80natural (but rare) metal Hg(l), Hg(II) sulfides and halides, Hg(I) exists as Hg22+
LeadPb82Pb(s) in alloys, Pb(II) sulfide, carbonate and sulfate minerals, sometimes Pb(IV) salts or minerals

Common polyatomic ions
NameFormulaWhere you find it
AmmoniumNH4+soluble salts, fertilizer
CyanideCNtoxic, in some plant products and dyes
HydroxideOHin bases and some minerals
PeroxideO22–in bleaches and disinfectants
AcetateC2H3O2in vinegar
PerchlorateClO4soluble salts and explosives, a strong acid
ChlorateClO3similar to perchlorates but less stable
ChloriteClO2disinfectants and bleaches, some explosive salts
HypochloriteClOdisinfectants and bleaches, most salts unstable
NitrateNO3soluble salts, fertilizer, explosives, a strong acid
NitriteNO2preservatives for food
CarbonateCO32–in rock, seashells, cement; a base
BicarbonateHCO3a base (baking soda), in soda, in blood
SulfateSO42–in salts, plaster, detergent, a strong acid
BisulfateHSO4food additives
SulfiteSO32–salts, food preservatives
PhosphatePO43–salts, rock, fertilizers, a strong acid, in ATP and DNA

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Last modified: Wed Mar 5 13:29:26 KST 2014