Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In chemistry, a formula unit is the smallest unit of a non-molecular substance, such as an ionic compound, covalent network solid, or metal. [1] [2] It can also refer to the chemical formula for that unit. Those structures do not consist of discrete molecules, and so for them, the term formula unit is used.
Historically, the mole was defined as the amount of substance in 12 grams of the carbon-12 isotope.As a consequence, the mass of one mole of a chemical compound, in grams, is numerically equal (for all practical purposes) to the mass of one molecule or formula unit of the compound, in daltons, and the molar mass of an isotope in grams per mole is approximately equal to the mass number ...
A chemical formula used for a series of compounds that differ from each other by a constant unit is called a general formula. It generates a homologous series of chemical formulae. For example, alcohols may be represented by the formula C n H 2n + 1 OH (n ≥ 1), giving the homologs methanol, ethanol, propanol for 1 ≤ n ≤ 3.
Chemical formulas can be used to describe the relative amounts of elements present in a compound. For example, the chemical formula for water is H 2 O: this means that each molecule of water is constituted by 2 atoms of hydrogen (H) and 1 atom of oxygen (O). The chemical composition of water may be interpreted as a 2:1 ratio of hydrogen atoms ...
Formulas for network solids, like those for ionic compounds, are simple ratios of the component atoms represented by a formula unit. [3] Examples of network solids include diamond with a continuous network of carbon atoms and silicon dioxide or quartz with a continuous three-dimensional network of SiO 2 units.
In biology, the unit "%" is sometimes (incorrectly) used to denote mass concentration, also called mass/volume percentage. A solution with 1 g of solute dissolved in a final volume of 100 mL of solution would be labeled as "1%" or "1% m/v" (mass/volume). This is incorrect because the unit "%" can only be used for dimensionless quantities.
A compound's empirical formula is a very simple type of chemical formula. [27] It is the simplest integer ratio of the chemical elements that constitute it. [28] For example, water is always composed of a 2:1 ratio of hydrogen to oxygen atoms, and ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is always composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a 2:6:1 ratio.
This is especially common for measurement of compounds in biological fluids; for instance, the healthy level of potassium in the blood of a human is defined between 3.5 and 5.0 mEq/L. A certain amount of univalent ions provides the same amount of equivalents while the same amount of divalent ions provides twice the amount of equivalents.