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Instrumental fundamentals · Tools of chemical work

Inorganic chemical language

"Sodium chloride" and $\mathrm{NaCl}$ are two ways of saying exactly the same thing, and a chemist anywhere in the world will understand both. This shared language matters: a wrongly written name or formula describes a different substance. Think of the label on a bottle of bleach under your kitchen sink: one wrong letter could mean a very different chemical. Let's learn to read and write that language.

Oxidation numbers and Stock names

A rusty iron gate near the Gulf Coast in Galveston is covered in red-brown rust, $\mathrm{Fe_2O_3}$, but hot iron in a furnace forms a black scale, $\mathrm{FeO}$. Both are iron oxides. How do we show clearly that iron is behaving differently in each?

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a) Write the chemical formula of the following binary compounds: titanium dioxide, dihydrogen sulfide and cobalt(III) bromide. b) Assign a systematic compositional or…
  1. a) Write the chemical formula of the following binary compounds: titanium dioxide, dihydrogen sulfide and cobalt(III) bromide.
  2. b) Assign a systematic compositional or Stock name to the following formulas: $\mathrm{Cu_2O}$, $\mathrm{NH_3}$ and $\mathrm{SnH_4}$. State explicitly, for the compound $\mathrm{Cu_2O}$, the oxidation state of the copper.
Solve

Binary compounds and hydroxides

When magnesium ribbon burns in the lab it leaves white $\mathrm{MgO}$, while sodium burns in chlorine to give $\mathrm{NaCl}$. What decides the ratio in which two elements combine?

Criss-cross method: the charge of each ion becomes the subscript of the other to give a neutral formula. metal +3 non-metal −1 charges are criss-crossed formula: M X₃
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a) Write the formulas of the following inorganic chemical species: iron(II) hydroxide, ammonium chloride and lead(IV) selenide. b) Name the following compounds using…
  1. a) Write the formulas of the following inorganic chemical species: iron(II) hydroxide, ammonium chloride and lead(IV) selenide.
  2. b) Name the following compounds using compositional or Stock nomenclature: $\mathrm{Al(OH)_3}$, $\mathrm{Mg_3N_2}$ and $\mathrm{Fe_2S_3}$. Specify the ions (cation and anion) that formally make up each of them.
Solve

Common acids and oxysalts

Antacid tablets from the drugstore contain calcium carbonate, and the sulfates in hard water are salts of sulfuric acid. These oxyanions contain oxygen bonded to another nonmetal. You need to know the common ones well. Salts of oxyacids are also called ternary ionic compounds.

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a) Write the molecular or empirical formula of the following oxygen-containing compounds: nitric acid, potassium sulfate and sodium dihydrogenphosphate. b) Give a valid…
  1. a) Write the molecular or empirical formula of the following oxygen-containing compounds: nitric acid, potassium sulfate and sodium dihydrogenphosphate.
  2. b) Give a valid IUPAC name (accepted traditional or systematic compositional/hydrogen) for: $\mathrm{HClO_4}$, $\mathrm{NaIO_3}$ and $\mathrm{CaCO_3}$. Also state the oxidation state of the central non-metal in the acid and in the anions of the two salts.
Solve

Lattices and molecular substances

Table salt and sulfur dioxide both contain two elements, yet one is a crystal you sprinkle on French fries and the other a choking gas. The difference lies in how the particles are arranged.

Comparison of a molecular substance, an ionic lattice and a covalent network solid at particle level. molecular N₂, SO₂ ionic: NaCl, CaF₂ network: SiO₂
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Observe the schematic two-dimensional representation of the structural arrangement in an inorganic solid made up of monatomic ions $A^{2+}$ and $B^{2-}$: a) Deduce the…

Observe the schematic two-dimensional representation of the structural arrangement in an inorganic solid made up of monatomic ions $A^{2+}$ and $B^{2-}$:

A²⁺ B²⁻ A²⁺ B²⁻ B²⁻ A²⁺ B²⁻ A²⁺ A²⁺ B²⁻ A²⁺ B²⁻ B²⁻ A²⁺ B²⁻ A²⁺ ··· ··· ··· ··· A²⁺ Cation A²⁺ B²⁻ Anion B²⁻
  1. a) Deduce the minimum stoichiometric ratio between the two ions in the lattice and write the resulting empirical formula of the compound.
  2. b) Explain why it has no physical meaning to refer to the molecular mass of this solid compound, and distinguish its continuous lattice nature from a discrete neutral molecular substance made up of covalently bonded atoms, such as sulfur dioxide, $\mathrm{SO_2}$.
Solve
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In the lab, four pure substances I, II, III and IV are identified at $20\,^\circ\text{C}$ and $1\,\text{atm}$: I: A gas made up of molecules in which chlorine has…

In the lab, four pure substances I, II, III and IV are identified at $20\,^\circ\text{C}$ and $1\,\text{atm}$:

  • I: A gas made up of molecules in which chlorine has oxidation state $+1$ with respect to oxygen in an atomic ratio $2:1$.

  • II: A white solid with a high melting point ($1418\,^\circ\text{C}$), an electrical insulator as a solid but a conductor when molten, whose small fraction dissolved in water dissociates into ions $\mathrm{Ca^{2+}}$ and $\mathrm{F^-}$.

  • III: An inorganic solid with an extremely high melting point ($>1600\,^\circ\text{C}$), insoluble and non-conducting, with silicon and oxygen atoms covalently bonded in the stoichiometric ratio $1:2$.

  • IV: A homonuclear diatomic gas with a triple covalent bond.

  1. a) Write the formula and assign a systematic IUPAC name to substances I, II and III.
  2. b) Classify each substance (I to IV) as: molecular substance, ionic lattice or covalent lattice.
Solve

Peroxides, condensed acids and hydrates

The hydrogen peroxide from your medicine cabinet fizzes as it breaks down, while water is very stable. $\mathrm{H_2O_2}$ and $\mathrm{H_2O}$ look alike. What is different inside?

An ordinary oxide has a metal–oxygen bond with oxygen at −2; a peroxide has an oxygen–oxygen bond with each oxygen at −1. oxide M O ordinary oxide (O: −2) peroxide: −O−O− M O O peroxide (each O: −1)
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In the draft of a chemical quality-control report, the following five formulation or nomenclature proposals appear: 1. "Iron(III) sulfate" associated with the formula…

In the draft of a chemical quality-control report, the following five formulation or nomenclature proposals appear:

  1. "Iron(III) sulfate" associated with the formula $\mathrm{Fe_3(SO_4)_2}$.

  2. "Potassium(I) oxide" to designate the substance $\mathrm{K_2O}$.

  3. "Chloric acid" assigned to the formula $\mathrm{HClO_2}$.

  4. "Calcium nitrite" for the formula $\mathrm{Ca(NO_3)_2}$.

  5. "Sulfuric(VI) acid" for $\mathrm{H_2SO_4}$.

  1. a) Distinguish formulation errors or errors in identifying a species, redundant indications and unnecessary mixing of nomenclatures. Do not assume that all cases have the same type of problem.
  2. b) Provide a simple and correct formulation or name for each case: write the actual formula corresponding to the intended name in 1 and 4, and assign the unambiguous IUPAC name to the formulas in 2, 3 and 5.
Solve
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A pure sample of a hydrated nickel and sulfur oxysalt is thermally analyzed to determine its exact stoichiometric formula. $4,742\,\text{g}$ of hydrated nickel(II)…

A pure sample of a hydrated nickel and sulfur oxysalt is thermally analyzed to determine its exact stoichiometric formula. $4,742\,\text{g}$ of hydrated nickel(II) sulfate, of formula $\mathrm{NiSO_4 \times } x\,\mathrm{H_2O}$, is weighed. After the solid is heated for a prolonged time at $280\,^\circ\text{C}$ in a dry atmosphere until constant mass, an anhydrous residue of $\mathrm{NiSO_4}$ is obtained, with a mass of $2,788\,\text{g}$.

Relative atomic mass data: $\mathrm{H} = 1,008$; $\mathrm{O} = 16.00$; $\mathrm{S} = 32.06$; $\mathrm{Ni} = 58.69$.

  1. a) Calculate the amount of substance (in moles) of anhydrous salt and of water released, deducing the value of the integer hydration coefficient $x$.
  2. b) Write the stoichiometric formula of the hydrated compound and name it according to the IUPAC systematic compositional nomenclature for hydrates.
Solve
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Diphosphoric acid (or pyrophosphoric acid) and peroxydisulfuric acid are condensed oxoacids of industrial and analytical importance. a) Determine the oxidation state of…

Diphosphoric acid (or pyrophosphoric acid) and peroxydisulfuric acid are condensed oxoacids of industrial and analytical importance.

  1. a) Determine the oxidation state of the central atom (phosphorus and sulfur) in the molecular formulas $\mathrm{H_4P_2O_7}$ and $\mathrm{H_2S_2O_8}$, justifying in detail the nature of the bridging bonds between the nonmetals in each of the two structures (oxo bridge $-\mathrm{O}-$ versus peroxo bridge $-\mathrm{O-O}-$).
  2. b) Write the formula of potassium peroxydisulfate, write the balanced equation for the formation of $\mathrm{H_4P_2O_7}$ by loss of water from two molecules of phosphoric acid, $\mathrm{H_3PO_4}$, and state which stable hydrated ionic species coexist in the aqueous medium when the potassium salt dissolves completely at $25\,^\circ\text{C}$.
Solve

Summary

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