Definition of Chemical Formula
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, in Jun. 2014
The formulas they are normally expressions that use symbols to express issues inherent to the matter they contain. The most common are those that are used and proposed to solve something, a mathematical problem, a logical problem, among others. For this reason, the concept of formula is always associated with the resolution of a specific question, that is, it is the means that allows a satisfactory solution to be resolved.
The formulas that are successful, because they precisely manage to solve the problems around this or that thing are usually highly coveted precisely for this reason, because they help to solve something. When an individual succeeds in business, his business being the most successful, it is because he has a formula that has known how to work. Meanwhile, it is common for your competitors or the press to talk about the formula for your success and want to discover it to repeat it themselves.
Meanwhile, and as its name anticipates it, the chemical formula
is a formula that gains presence at the behest of the field of chemistry, its main function being that of represent all those components that will make up a certain chemical compound. Meanwhile, it indicates the amount of each component in question and also the number of atoms.The formulas of this class also often provide data on the bonds of atoms
The periodic table It is made up of 118 elements (there are metals, metalloids, non-metals and gases nobles). Most are found in nature in its pure state (specifically 92) and the rest (26) are creations made synthetically in laboratories. They are ordered from their complexity (Hydrogen is the simplest and has the number 1 in the table and uranium is the most complex and carries the number 92). Symbols are used to refer to an element or a compound of several elements. It is worth remembering that in ancient times symbols were used to explain what were believed to be the components of nature (earth, fire, air Y Water).
Each chemical element has a name and its abbreviation is used when representing it (carbon is C, iron Fe, sodium Na, silver Ag, lead Pb ...). Some of the abbreviations come from the original Latin names
A symbol of a substance represents an atom of the substance. However, in nature the vast majority of substances do not exist as isolated atoms, but as a combination of more than one atom. Let's take an example. Two hydrogen atoms form a molecule hydrogen gas and chemists symbolize it by a formula, in this case H2. The chemical formula is formed by the abbreviation of the element and a number in the subscript that indicates the number of atoms
in the molecule.
The formulas are used to symbolize also molecules of chemical compounds, that is, combinations of the different elements. The famous H20 water formula means that two hydrogen atoms combine with one oxygen atom in each molecule. Another very common element is common salt (sodium chloride) and its chemical formula is NaCl.
Formulas are also used in chemical reactions
If, for example, we mix zinc and sulfur, we form zinc sulfide, its formula being ZnS, which means that it is formed by an atom of
sulfur and a zinc atom.
If we think of the universe, it may appear that matter has a distribution very complex. In reality, this is not the case, since 99% of the entire universe is made up of hydrogen and helium and only 1% for the rest of the elements.
It is worth noting that this type of formulas and formulas in general are characterized by their brevity and therefore the information It is expressed in symbolic and agreed terms, that is, there are rules that establish the nomenclature of a formula chemistry.
Formally it is called chemical nomenclature and consists of a series of rules that are used to name both chemical elements and compounds.
The mission of this nomenclature is that any chemical name can be recognized without any doubt by all. There is a name for each substance and this helps make sure there are no mistakes about the compounds.
There are several chemical formulas, being the empirical and the molecular the most common. The first indicates the number of atoms in a chemical compound. And the molecular is used to indicate the types of atoms that are in a molecular compound and the number corresponding to the kind of atom.
Topics in Chemical Formula