Different types of formulas

[Jina Kwon]

What is the difference between chemical formula, molecular formula, and structural formula?

[Camellia Liu 1J]

Chemical formulas basically show the symbols and the proportion/number of elements in a compound.

Molecular formulas show the number of each type of atom present in the molecule.

Structural formulas show the arrangement of atoms and the bonds between them.

[Sanjana K - 2F]

I think it's more important to distinguish between an empirical formula (which shows you the simplest whole number ratio of atoms of each element in the compound) and a molecular formula (which shows the actual number of atoms of each element in a compound). A lot of sources online are using the term "chemical formula" interchangeably with "empirical formula" or even sometimes "molecular formula", so I'd love to find out what the exact difference is. Structural formulas are useful in that they show the bonds and lone pairs of an atom, so it'll be very useful when we study organic chemistry because we'll be able to visibly see the interactions and arrangements between the atoms.