Chemistry Part - 10

ATOMS AND MOLECULES


IONS
An ion is a positively or negatively charged atom or group of atoms.
Every atom contains equal number of electron (negatively charged) and protons (positively charged).
Both charges balance each other, hence atom is electrically neutral.
(a) Cation :
If an atom has less electrons than a neutral atom, then it gets positively charged and a positively
charged ion is known as cation.
E.g. Sodium ion (Na+), Magnesium ion (Mg2+) etc.
A cation bears that much units of positive charge as are the number of electrons lost by the neutral
atom to form that cation.
E.g. An aluminum atom loses 3 electrons to form aluminum ion, so aluminum ion bears 3 units of positive
3+
charge and it is represented as Al .
All metal elements form cations.
(b) Anion :
If an atom has more number of electrons than that of neutral atom, then it gets negatively charged and
a negatively charged iron is known as union.
E.g. Chloride ion (Cl-), oxide ion (O2-) etc.
All non-metal elements form anions (except hydrogen).
An anion bears that much units of negative charge as are the number of electrons gained by the
neutral atom to form that anion.
E.g. A nitrogen atom gains 3 electrons to form nitride ion, so nitride ion bears 3 units of negative charge
and it is represented as N3-.
Size of a cation is always smaller and anion is always greater than that of the
corresponding neutral atom.
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MONOATOMIC IONS AND POLYATOMIC IONS
Monoatomic ions : Those ions which are formed form single atoms are called monoatomic ions or
simple ions.
E.g. Na+, Mg 2+ etc.
Polyatomic ions : Those ions which are formed from group of atoms joined together are called
polyatomic ions or compound ions.
E.g. Ammonium ion ( NH4+), hydroxide ion (OH-) etc. which are formed by the joining of two types of atoms,
nitrogen and hydrogen in the first case and oxygen and hydrogen in the second.
IONIC COMPOUNDS
Those compounds which are made up of ions (cations and anions) and are held together by strong
electrostatic forces of attraction are called ionic compounds.
The forces which hold the ions together in an ionic compound are known as ionic bonds or
electrovalent bonds.
E.g. Calcium nitrate Ca(NO3)2 is an ionic compound, whose one molecule is made up of one calcium ion
(Ca2+) and two nitrate ions (NO3), making the overall charge on calcium nitrate zero.
Overall charge on an ionic compound is always zero.
(a) Formula Unit of Ionic Compounds :

The simplest combination of ions that produces and electrically neutral unit, is called a formula unit
of the ionic compound. Molecular formula of ionic compounds cannot be determined because they consist
of large no. of ions. So ionic compounds are represented by formula unit.
Eg. Sodium chloride is an ionic compound which consists of a large number of Na+ and Cl- ions (but they
should be equal in number). So, the actual formula of sodium chloride should be (Na+)n(Cl-)n or (Na+Cl-)n,
where ‘n’ is a large number. Nacl is the simplest formula of sodium chloride and thus, the formula unit of
sodium chloride is NaCl.
FORMULA MASS
The formula mass of an ionic compound is the relative mass of its formula unit as compared with the mass
of a carbon atom (carbon - 12) taken as 12 units.
E.g. To find the formula mass of potassium carbonate (K2CO3).
Formula mass of K2CO3 = mass of 2 K atoms + Mass of 1 C atom + Mass of 3 O atoms
= (2 × 39) + (1 × 12) + (3 × 16)
= 78 + 12 + 48
= 138 u .
Hence, the formula mass of K2CO3 is 138 u.
CHEMICAL FORMULA /MOLECULAR FORMULA
The chemical formula of a compound or an element represent the composition of a molecule of the
compound or an element, in terms of the symbols of elements and the number of atoms of each
element present in one molecule of the substances.
(a) Formulae of Elements :
The chemical formula of an element is a representation of the composition of its molecule in which
symbol represents the element and subscript represents, how many atoms are present in one molecule.
E.g. One molecule of hydrogen element contains Two atoms of hydrogen, therefore, the formula of
hydrogen is H2. It should, however, be noted that 2H represents two separate atoms of hydrogen, while H2
represents one molecule of hydrogen.
(b) Formulae of Compounds :
The chemical formula of a compound is representation of the composition of its molecule in which
symbol represents, which elements are present and the subscript shows us how many atoms of each
element are present in one molecule of a compound. E.g. One molecule of water contains 2 atoms of
hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen. Hence, the formula of water is H 2O.
(i) In the chemical formula of a compound, the elements present are denoted by their symbols and the
number of atoms of each element are denoted by writing their number as subscripts to the symbols of the
respective elements.
E.g. Water is a compound whose one molecule is made up of 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen
and hence, its chemical formula is H2O.
(ii) While writing the formula of an ionic compound, the metal is written on the left hand side, while the non
metal is written on the right hand side.
E.g. Magnesium oxide is written as MgO, Sodium chloride is written as NaCl etc.
The name of the metal remains as such, but that of the non-metal is changed to have the
ending ‘ide’.
(iii) Molecular compounds, formed by the combination between two different non - metals, are written in
such a way that the less electronegative element is written on the left hand side, while the more
electronegative element is written on the right hand side. In naming molecular compounds, the name of the
less negative non-metal is written as such but the name of the more electronegative element is
changed to have the ending ‘ide’.
E.g. H2S is named as hydrogen sulphide and HCI is named as hydrogen chloride.
(iv) When there are more than one atoms of an element present in the formula of the compound, then the
number of atoms are indicated by the use of appropriate prefixes (mono for 1, di for 2, tri for 3, tetra
for 4 atoms etc. respectively) in the name of the compound.
E.g. CO is named as carbon monoxide, CO2 is named s carbon dioxide and CCI4 is named as carbon
tetrachloride.

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ATOMS AND MOLECULES

All metal elements form cations.

All non-metal elements form anions (except hydrogen).

Overall charge on an ionic compound is always zero.

(a) Formula Unit of Ionic Compounds :

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