Question

You need to write down information about a molecule, but need to indicate only the type and number of atoms it contains. Which representation would work best?

1)molecular formula
2)structural formula
3)ball-and-stick model
4)space-filling model

Answer 1

The molecular formula is the best representation when you need to indicate only the type and number of atoms in a molecule, as it is concise and omits structural and spatial information.

Step-by-step explanation:

If you need to write down information about a molecule that shows only the type and number of atoms it contains, you would use a molecular formula. The molecular formula is concise and provides the necessary information without detailing how the atoms are connected or their arrangement in space. For instance, writing methanol as CH4O includes one carbon atom (C), four hydrogen atoms (H), and one oxygen atom (O) without specifying their bonds or layout.

Structural formulas, on the other hand, show how atoms are connected in a molecule, while ball-and-stick models and space-filling models illustrate the three-dimensional shape and relative sizes of atoms in the molecule, respectively. However, for the purpose of simply indicating the type and number of atoms, these models provide more information than required. Therefore, the molecular formula is the most straightforward and suitable representation when such specific structural details are not needed.