Atoms, Elements, and Formulas

Atoms and ElementsChemical Formulas

A. Atoms are the smallest unit of matter that can be achieved through normal means

1. Atoms can be broken into smaller pieces using giant particle accelerators, but the pieces are different than the atom

B. Elements are the different types of atoms1. There are about 116 known elements2. How many atoms and elements are in H2O?

a. 3 atoms, 2 elements

I. Atoms and Elements

3Al2(SO4)

3

II. Chemical FormulasAluminum Sulfate has the following formula

Aluminum sulfate is made of: 3 Elements and 17 Atoms

Subscript numbers tell you the number

atoms of the preceding element, there are 2 atoms of

aluminum

Here the 4 refers only to

the oxygen not the sulfur

Numbers outside of

parenthesis tell you how many “chunks” you

have

Parenthesis group atoms into chunks

Numbers out in front tell you how many of the entire

compound you have

A. How many elements and atoms are there?1. NaCl

a. 2 elements, 2 atoms

2. CH4

a. 2 elements, 5 atoms

3. C6H12O6

a. 3 elements, 24 atoms

4. CaMnO4

a. 3 elements, 6 atoms

5. H2SO4

a. 3 elements, 7 atoms

6. Li3Fe(CN)6

a. 4 elements, 16 atoms

Comprehension Check