Question

You are explaining the rules of nomenclature to a friend. You state the name of the compound NF3 as nitrogen trifluoride. Your friend says, 'Oh, so AlF3 must be aluminum trifluoride.' Is your friend correct? Explain.

Answer 1

Yes, your friend's naming of AlF3 as aluminum trifluoride is correct according to chemical nomenclature rules, which indicate prefixes based on the number of atoms and the elemental composition of the compound.

Step-by-step explanation:

Your friend is indeed correct in calling AlF3 aluminum trifluoride. This follows the rules of chemical nomenclature, where we name compounds based on the number of atoms of each element they contain. For AlF3, 'Al' represents aluminum, while 'F' represents fluoride, and '3' indicates there are three fluorine atoms bonded to a single aluminum atom, hence the name aluminum trifluoride.

Here's another example for clarity: NF3 is named nitrogen trifluoride following the same rule, with 'N' for nitrogen and 'F3' representing three fluorine atoms.

The nomenclature rule applicable here states that the name of the compound is formed by prefixing the number of atoms (if more than one) with Greek prefixes like mono-, di-, tri-, etc., followed by the name of the element. When naming compounds, if there is only one atom of the first element mentioned, we do not use the prefix 'mono-', but we do use it for the second element if applicable.