In clinical settings, "Sodium Chloride" and "Sodium Chlorite" are two very different substances. Precise naming is vital for patient safety.
Because metals like Iron (Fe) or Copper (Cu) can have different charges, we specify the charge in the name:
For nonmetal compounds, use prefixes to show the number of atoms:
| Formula | Prefixes Used | Name |
|---|---|---|
| SO2 | di = 2 | Sulfur dioxide |
| N2O5 | di = 2, penta = 5 | Dinitrogen pentoxide |
di = 2
tri = 3
tetra = 4
penta = 5
hexa = 6
These acids are frequently encountered in respiratory therapy and metabolic studies:
Some salts can be hydrated, meaning that they have one or more water molecules as part of their crystal structure.
For example, CuSO4∙5H2O is the salt copper (II) sulfate with 5 water molecules attached in the crystal.
The Greek prefix for the number 5 is ‘penta’, so this would be a pentahydrate … copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate.