{"id":3186,"date":"2013-12-15T21:05:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T21:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/?p=3186"},"modified":"2013-12-15T21:05:06","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T21:05:06","slug":"chemistry-naming-inorganic-acids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/chemistry-naming-inorganic-acids\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemistry: naming inorganic acids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tutoring chemistry, you encounter acids. \u00a0The chemistry tutor shares some observations about how to name them.<\/h1>\n

New students to the acid-and-base topic hear names like hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulphurous acid. \u00a0Recently I was asked why some are hydro-, while others are -ic or -ous?<\/p>\n

Before answering the questions about naming, I should introduce the generic formula of an inorganic acid. \u00a0It goes like this:<\/p>\n

Hn<\/span><\/sub>Anion<\/span>,<\/p>\n

where n, the number of H atoms, is equal to the negative charge on the anion. (An anion is a negatively charged ion.)<\/p>\n

How to name the acid is determined by its anion, according to these three rules:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If the anion is a single atom, such as S or Cl, the acid is a hydro- acid, with -ic following the atom’s name. \u00a0Examples: \u00a0H2<\/sub>S is hydrosulphuric acid; HCl is hydrochloric acid.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  2. If the anion is an -ate, such as nitrate, the acid is -ic. \u00a0For instance, HNO3<\/sub> is nitric acid, since its anion, NO3<\/sub>, is nitrate. Similarly, H2<\/sub>SO4<\/sub> is sulphuric acid; you recognize its anion, SO4<\/sub>, as sulphate.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  3. If the anion is an -ite, such as nitrite, the acid is -ous. \u00a0Therefore, HNO2<\/sub> is nitrous acid, since its anion, NO2<\/sub>, is nitrite. H2<\/sub>SO3<\/sub> is sulphurous acid; note its anion, SO3<\/sub>, is sulphite.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These hints should answer most questions about inorganic acid nomenclature at the high school level:)<\/p>\n

    Source: Mortimer, Charles E. Chemistry<\/em>, sixth edition. Belmont, California:    Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1986.<\/p>\n

    Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane,<\/a> Campbell River, BC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tutoring chemistry, you encounter acids. \u00a0The chemistry tutor shares some observations about how to name them. New students to the acid-and-base topic hear names like hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulphurous acid. \u00a0Recently I was asked why some are hydro-, …<\/p>\n

    Chemistry: naming inorganic acids<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[40,41],"class_list":["post-3186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","tag-acids","tag-nomenclature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3186"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3219,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186\/revisions\/3219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}