Chemical Formulae

Chemical Formula:

A chemical formula is a way of expressing information about the proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, using a single line of chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as parentheses, dashes, brackets, commas and plus (+) and minus (−) signs.

Types:

It has 4 types. Here we shall discuss 3 of them:

1.) Structural Formula:

The formula that shows the structure/arrangement of atoms in a compound is called "Structural Formula" OR The structural formula of a chemical compound is a graphic representation of the molecular structure, showing how the atoms are arranged.

2.) Molecular Formula:

The formula that shows the the actual number of atoms in a compound is called "Molecular Formula e.g. Carbon Dioxide has 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms so it's formula is CO₂

3.) Empirical Formula:

The simplest whole number ratio of atoms in a compound is called "Empirical Formula". It does not show the actual number of atoms in a compound. For example: Benzene's "Molecular Formula" is C6H6. To obtain it's empirical formula we find the simplest whole number ratio of the the numbers of atoms. There are 6 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms in a molecule of Benzene. As 6 divided by 6 is 1, we divided it by itself here. We get "C1H1" but, "1" is usually not wirtten so it's "CH".
 Condensed Structural Formula

Types of Formulae/Formulas