90.8k views
3 votes
How are chemical compounds named from their respective formulas?

User Firelynx
by
5.6k points

1 Answer

7 votes
There are a lot of ways! There is a system using Greek roots, that would make H2O dihydrogen monoxide, and there's the Stock system that gives us names like iron (II) sulfate. Various ions have their own names, SO4(2-) is sulfate, because it's got a sulfur and a certain number of oxygens as opposed to sulfite, SO3(-). Anything else you need to know?
User Dustmachine
by
6.1k points