Naming molecular compounds may seem tricky, but it's like learning a secret code to understanding the language of chemistry. Molecular compounds are made of nonmetals, and the way we name them helps us know exactly which elements they contain and how many.

Here's the thing: Every compound has two parts. The first part of the name tells you the first element and the second part tells you the second element with an "-ide" ending. For example, in carbon dioxide (CO₂), "carbon" is the first element and "dioxide" tells you that there are two oxygen atoms.

To make things clearer, we use prefixes to indicate how many atoms of each element are in the compound. These prefixes are: mono- (1), di- (2), tri- (3), tetra- (4), penta- (5), hexa- (6), etc. But here's a tip: if there is only one atom of the first element, we usually skip the "mono-". CO is therefore carbon monoxide and not carbon monoxide.

Let’s break down another example: dinitrogen tetroxide (N₂O₄). “Di-” means two nitrogen atoms and “tetra-” means four oxygen atoms.
Naming molecular compounds may seem like cracking a code, but once you know the rules, it's a breeze. You'll be able to decipher and create compound names like a chemistry pro!

More lessons: http://www.MathAndScience.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JasonGibsonMath

Please take the opportunity to connect and share this video with your friends and family if you find it useful.