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For an ionic compound, the name of the positive ion comes first, followed by the name of the negative ion. It also tells the ratio of the atoms and tells what atoms make up the compound.
they describe the type and number of atoms in a molecule of the compound

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8y ago
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8y ago

It tells us the elements present in the compound, and the number of atoms of each element in one formula unit of the compound. For instance in NaO, we know that the compound (sodium oxide) contains sodium (Na) and oxgyen (O), and that in one formula unit of NaO, there is one sodium atom and oxygen atom, i.e. the elements are in a 1:1 ratio in terms of the number of atoms.

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8y ago

It tells us (1) the elements present in the compound, and (2) the number of atoms of each element in one formula unit of the compound. For instance, the ionic compound sodium oxide has chemical formula NaO. From this we can see that the elements present are sodium (Na) and oxygen (2), and that in one formula unit there is one sodium and one oxygen atom, i.e. the elements are in the ratio 1:1 in terms of number of atoms.

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6y ago

The chemical composition can be deduced in percentage.

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Q: What information is given by the formula of an ionic compound?
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