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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.
In chemistry, a salt or ionic compound is a chemical compound consisting of an assembly of positively charged ions and negatively charged ions , [1] which results in a compound with no net electric charge (electrically neutral). The constituent ions are held together by electrostatic forces termed ionic bonds.
In ionic compounds there arise characteristic distances between ion neighbours from which the spatial extension and the ionic radius of individual ions may be derived. The most common type of ionic bonding is seen in compounds of metals and nonmetals (except noble gases , which rarely form chemical compounds).
This is a list of common chemical compounds with chemical formulae and CAS numbers, indexed by formula. This complements alternative listing at list of inorganic compounds . There is no complete list of chemical compounds since by nature the list would be infinite.
The ionic strength of a solution is a measure of the concentration of ions in that solution. Ionic compounds, when dissolved in water, dissociate into ions. The total electrolyte concentration in solution will affect important properties such as the dissociation constant or the solubility of different salts. One of the main characteristics of a ...
Ionic compounds can also be produced from their constituent ions by evaporation of their solvent, precipitation, freezing, a solid-state reaction, or the electron transfer reaction of reactive metals with reactive non-metals, such as halogen gases. Ionic compounds typically have high melting and boiling points, and are hard and brittle.
A simple example of a polyatomic ion is the hydroxide ion, which consists of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, jointly carrying a net charge of −1; its chemical formula is O H −. In contrast, an ammonium ion consists of one nitrogen atom and four hydrogen atoms, with a charge of +1; its chemical formula is N H + 4.
For most ionic compounds dissolved in water, the van 't Hoff factor is equal to the number of discrete ions in a formula unit of the substance. This is true for ideal solutions only, as occasionally ion pairing occurs in solution. At a given instant a small percentage of the ions are paired and count as a single particle.