How would you find the formula of lithium carbonate?
I know that it ends with #CO_3# but how do I know how many lithium atoms are present?
I know that it ends with
1 Answer
Here's how you can do that.
Explanation:
You're right, lithium carbonate does "end" in
This helps because it provides an important clue about the number of lithium cations that are needed in order to have
As you know, ionic compounds are neutral, which implies that the overall negative charge coming from the anion(s) must be balanced by the overall positive charge coming from the cation(s).
In this case, you know that the anion carries a
Now, lithium is located in group
You can thus say that in order to have an overall
Therefore,
#2 xx ["Li"]^(+) + ["CO"_ 3]^(2-) -> overbrace("Li"_ 2"CO"_ 3)^(color(blue)("lithium carbonate"))#