Test Review - Chemical Formulas

Question 1

What do chemical formulas of a substance tell us?

Answer 1

Chemical formulas tell us about:

• The types of atoms that make up the particle of that substance.
• How many of each type of atom that makes up the particle of
  the substance

Question 2

What do we call different types of atoms?

Answer 2

Elements

Question 3

What is a molecular formula?

Answer 3

• A chemical formula with the total number of atoms of each element bonded together in a particle of that substance
• Also the original formula of any compound (not simplified)

Question 4

What is an empirical formula?

Answer 4

A chemical formula with the number of atoms in each element in the lowest whole number ratio

Question 5

What is a molecule?

Answer 5

A group of atoms chemically bonded together (doesn’t have to be non-metals?)

Question 6

What does the term ‘giant’ mean?

Answer 6

Giant structures are structures representing compounds that show how their particles are arranged
= many atoms/ions all chemically bonded together forming an ordeal structure lattice

Chemical bonds included:
Ionic, covalent and metallic

Question 7

Why do scientists use the empirical formula more often instead of the molecular formula?

Answer 7

Molecular formulas usually have a number of atoms for each element that are really really high numbers, too large to work with. They cannot be used to make meaningful comparisons. Therefore, they use the empirical formula more often instead.