EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Always name the cation before the anion; in the chemical formula, the cation will always appear first as well. When naming the cation within an ionic compound, we don’t include the word ion or the charge unless it is a polyvalent cation.

Detailed explanation-2: -When naming binary ionic compounds, name the cation first (specifying the charge, if necessary), then the nonmetal anion (element stem +-ide). Do NOT use prefixes to indicate how many of each element is present; this information is implied in the name of the compound.

Detailed explanation-3: -For binary ionic compounds (ionic compounds that contain only two types of elements), the compounds are named by writing the name of the cation first followed by the name of the anion. For example, KCl, an ionic compound that contains K⁺ and Cl⁻ ions, is named potassium chloride.

Detailed explanation-4: -For a basic ionic compound, (one that uses a metal cation and a non-metal anion) the metal cation simply uses the name of the element, and the non-metal anion uses the name of the element with the suffix changed to-ide. For example: Chlorine becomes Chloride. Sulfur becomes Sulfide.