Can you name covalent compounds?

Covalent compounds or molecular compounds contain nonmetals that share electrons via covalent bonds. Chemistry students often get their names and structures confused with the ionic compounds, but if you know your nonmetals, you should be able to tell the two types of compounds apart. Last week I gave you a naming quiz for the ionic compounds. Today I've got a similar quiz dealing solely with covalent compound names. Can you get a perfect score?

Take the Quiz!

Keywords: covalent, molecule, naming, quiz

How to Name Covalent Compounds

Covalent compounds or molecular compounds are those in which nonmetal elements share electrons with each other using covalent bonds. You can name a covalent compound from its formula or can use the formula to write the name once you know the simple rules of covalent compound nomenclature.

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2010/05/10/how-to-name-covalent-compounds.htm

Keywords: covalent, naming, molecule

Fun oxygen facts

Oxygen is one of those elements you simply can't live without. You find it in the air your breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat. Here are some quick facts about this important element. You can find more detailed information about oxygen on the oxygen facts page.

1. Animals and plants require oxygen for respiration.

2. Oxygen gas is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.

3. Liquid and solid oxygen are pale blue.

4. Oxygen is a non-metal.

5. Oxygen gas normally is the divalent molecule O2. Ozone, O3, is another form of pure oxygen.

6. Oxygen supports combustion.

7. Oxygen is paramagnetic.

8. Approximately 2/3 of the mass of the human body is oxygen.

9. Excited oxygen is responsible for the bright red and yellow-green colors of the aurora.

10. Oxygen was the atomic weight standard for the other elements until 1961 when it was replaced by carbon 12.

Keywords: elements, molecule, naming

Caution: May cause dizziness

Careful on that ice!

Fireworks for New Years

Many people associate fireworks with Independence Day, but they are a big part of New Year's celebrations, too. Do you know how fireworks were invented? Legend tells of a Chinese cook who accidentally spilled saltpeter into a cooking fire, producing an interesting flame. Saltpeter, an ingredient in gunpowder, was used as a flavoring salt sometimes. The other gunpowder ingredients, charcoal and sulfur, were also common in early fires. Though the mixture burned with a pretty flame in a fire, it exploded if it was enclosed in a bamboo tube. This serendipitous invention of gunpowder appears to have occurred about 2000 years ago, with exploding firecrackers produced later during the Song dynasty (960-1279) by a Chinese monk named Li Tian, who lived near the city of Liu Yang in Hunan Province. These firecrackers were bamboo shoots filled with gunpowder. They were exploded at the commencement of the new year to scare away evil spirits. Much of the modern focus of fireworks is on light and color, but loud noise (known as "gung pow" or "bian pao") was desirable in a religious firework, since that was what frightened the spirits. By the 15th century, fireworks were a traditional part of other celebrations, such as military victories and weddings. The Chinese story is well-known, though it's possible fireworks really were invented in India or Arabia.

Christmas Trees Ornaments

There are several cool Christmas ornaments you can make yourself that are based on chemistry. Mirror a glass ball with silver, use a redox reaction to plate a star with ...

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Why cats hate humans

Snow cat pose!

Boooo books for Christmas...

Keywords: books, christmas, funny, gift, present, reading

World's Smallest Periodic Table Is Engraved on a Single Hair - Topix

World's Smallest Periodic Table Is Engraved on a Single Hair - Topix

The Lyin' King!

Elements in Japanese!

Change that Periodic Table!

Atomic weights of 10 elements on periodic table about to make an historic change

ScienceDaily (2010-12-15) -- For the first time in history, a change will be made to the atomic weights of some elements listed on the periodic table of the chemical elements posted on walls of chemistry classrooms and on the inside covers of chemistry textbooks worldwide. The new table will express atomic weights of 10 elements in a new manner that will reflect more accurately how these elements are found in nature. ... > read full article

Ionic Attraction

Keywords: ionic bonds, ions, attraction, charges

Reactive Alkali Metals

"Hey There Ions", what happened to Delilah?

Keywords: Delilah, ions, song

Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" animated