Question

Prompt

Answer the following questions. Give details to explain your reasoning in each response.

1.) How do we name the compound CO2? Provide a detailed explanation for your answer. (30 points)

2.) How do we name the compound N2O5? Provide a detailed explanation for your answer. (30 points)

3.) Describe a scenario when we would omit the use of the prefix “mono”. Give an example and name the compound. (35 points)

Answer 1

1) The compound CO2 is named carbon dioxide. When naming compounds, we use a system called chemical nomenclature, which follows certain rules. In this case, the compound CO2 consists of one carbon atom (C) and two oxygen atoms (O). The prefix "mono" is not used for the first element in a compound, so we don't say "monocarbon." Instead, we simply use the name of the element, which is "carbon." For the second element, oxygen, we use the "-ide" ending to indicate that it's an anion (negatively charged ion). Hence, the name becomes "dioxide" to represent two oxygen atoms. Therefore, we name the compound CO2 as carbon dioxide.

2) The compound N2O5 is named dinitrogen pentoxide. Similarly to the previous explanation, we analyze the composition of the compound. Here, we have two nitrogen atoms (N) and five oxygen atoms (O). Again, we don't use the prefix "mono" for the first element, so we use the name "nitrogen." For the second element, oxygen, we use the "-ide" ending. However, in this case, we need to specify the number of atoms present since there are five oxygen atoms. We use the prefix "penta-" to represent five and the ending "-oxide" to indicate oxygen. Combining these, we arrive at the name "dinitrogen pentoxide" for the compound N2O5.

3) The prefix "mono" is typically omitted when there is only one atom of the first element in a compound. One scenario where we would omit the use of "mono" is when the compound consists of two elements, and the first element only has one atom. For example, in the compound CO, which is carbon monoxide, we don't use the prefix "mono" for carbon because it already implies there is only one carbon atom. In such cases, the element's name is used directly.

Answer 2

• The compound CO2 is named carbon dioxide.

Explanation: In chemical nomenclature, the name of a compound is derived from its constituent elements. Carbon dioxide consists of two elements: carbon (C) and oxygen (O). To name binary covalent compounds like CO2, we use a system called the Stock system or Stock nomenclature.

In this system, the first element's name remains unchanged, while the second element's name is modified to end in "-ide." In the case of carbon dioxide, "carbon" remains the same, and "oxygen" is modified to become "oxide." Therefore, the compound is named "carbon dioxide."

• The compound N2O5 is named dinitrogen pentoxide.

Explanation: Similar to the previous example, we use the Stock system to name binary covalent compounds. In the compound N2O5, there are two nitrogen (N) atoms and five oxygen (O) atoms. The prefix "di-" is used to indicate two nitrogen atoms, and the root name "nitrogen" remains unchanged. The prefix "penta-" is used to indicate five oxygen atoms, and the root name "oxygen" is modified to become "oxide." Therefore, the compound is named "dinitrogen pentoxide."

• The prefix "mono" is typically omitted when there is only one atom of the first element present in a compound.

Explanation: The prefix "mono-" is used to indicate a single atom of the first element in a compound. However, it is generally omitted in naming compounds when there is only one atom of the first element.

An example of a compound where we omit the use of the prefix "mono-" is carbon monoxide (CO). Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom. Instead of naming it "monocarbon monoxide," we simply name it "carbon monoxide." The omission of the prefix "mono-" is a convention to avoid redundancy since the compound name already indicates that there is only one atom of carbon present.

Therefore, the scenario when we omit the use of the prefix "mono-" is when there is only one atom of the first element in a compound, as exemplified by carbon monoxide.