CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

I understand how to balance a chemical reaction, but I'm having trouble writing them when they are given in word form (like chlorate or calcium hydroxide). Does anybody have any tips or tricks for remembering all the prefixes and suffixes?

I know that they usually bond with oxygen so i understand what elements are combined (for example: calcium hydroxide has Ca, O, and H, Chlorate has Cl and O) the only thing im confused on is knowing how many of each element there are? (For example it says that chlorate has 1 Chlorine and 3 oxygens) but how do we know that?

The way I go about it is that I memorize the ones that I find particularly confusing. There is no other roundabout way to do this I think. I can help you with the chlorate though. Stuff like chlorates usually mean that you have the maximum amount of Oxygen bound to a Chlorine atom (ClO3-). I would recommend checking out some other sources online or just using Professor Lavelle's multitude of resources to help you. I hope this helped!! :)

I recommend going through the naming notes I made at the beginning of the course reader as this will assist you.
We will be doing many polyatomic ions in class (Lewis structures, Acids & Basis, etc.) and then you can expect to know them.

Hey Lexi!

I found this site extremely helpful when I was learning how to write chemical formulas, including the various prefixes, suffixes, and rules for certain elements. It has different sections for different topics (e.g. naming polyatomic ions).

Hopefully this is a good resource that will help you:

http://www.kentchemistry.com/links/nami ... riting.htm

Making flash cards on index notes or quizlet really helped me memorize prefixes, suffixes, and abbreviations for the elements, when you are given a problem in word form.