How do I name a molecular compound ?
Molecular Compounds are named differently than Ionic Compounds.
Answer
A molecule has covalent bonds vs an ionic formula that has a formula unit with ionic bonds. Water is H2O and can be named hydrogen oxide. Compare this with H2O2 which is hydrogen peroxide.
Examples: 1] CO = carbon monoxide 2] CO2 = carbon dioxide 3] CCl4 = carbon tetrachloride 4] N2O5 = dinitrogen pentoxide
Notice: 1] all letters are lower case 2] -ide is the ending 3] prefixes are used to indicate [only] more than 1 atom in the formula 4] net overall charge is zero for the overall molecule.
Examples: 5] SCl2 = sulfur dichloride 6] PS = phosphorous monosulfide 7] 02 = oxygen [a diatomic gas] 8] N2 = nitrogen [a diatomic gas] [examples 7 and 8 are the natural states of oxygen and nitrogen and are NOT called dioxygen nor dinitrogen !].