I took Chem. 2 yrs ago, don't remember much from it. Next yr, I'm planning to take AP Chem. so I have to do Summer HW. I know that H is the symbol of Hydrogen, C is Carbon.Can someone plz help me how to figure out how to write element symbol, for example how to write element symbol of hydrocarbon? Or is there a website that can help me remember how to write an element SYMBOL when you know the name of the element and vice versa. Thank you very much.
Another God
Jul28-03, 04:50 AM
Well, hmmm...same common ones, I am sure you can find around, but a universal name to symbol converter...I doubt such a thing exists. (there are almost an infinite number of possible carbon moleculces out there).
I can tell you the basic (what I remember)
Prefixes = 1C = Meth, 2C = Eth, 3C = Prop, 4C = But, 5C = Pent, 6C = Hex, Hep?, Oct, ....hmmm 9, dunno...
Suffixes = single bond -ane, double bond -ene, triple bond -yne.
So Ethyne is two carbon atoms, connected by a triple bond.
Propene is 3 carbons, with one double bond between two of the carbon atoms...etc
Keeping in mind that each C atom has 4 bonds available, you can then easily figure out how many H atoms can attach...
Is this what you wanted?
(There are tons more naming rules, which I am sure Chemical Super Freak or Boulder Head should be able to help you with. They relate to alcohols, Acetyl groups, Carboxyl groups... methanals, methanols ....all sorts of strange set ups.)
Chemicalsuperfreak
Jul28-03, 12:43 PM
Umm, hydrocarbons are molecules, not elements. So they don't have a symbol or appear on the periodic table. If you're looking for the general formula for saturated hydrocarbons it's CnH(2n+2). Where n is a non-zero integer.
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