Homework Help: Chemistry

Posted by Nelle on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 2:43pm.

I have a compound of Na2subscriptCO3subscript. The cation it breaks into is NA+1 in the upper righthand corner, and the anion is CO3subscript,-2in the upper right hand corner. Where did the anion numbers come from? How can you tell what the charge is? I know you either look in the periodic table square, or at the top of the periodic column, but I don't see where the charge of -2 comes from since carbon is in the +4 column. Thanks for clarifying this.

Chemistry - Chopsticks, Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 3:21pm
Na has a +1 charge because its in the first group of the periodic table. For the CO3, didn't the teacher give you a sheet of common ions that tells you what the charges are? That was what my teacher did. But if you don't have the sheet, I THINK the reason why it has a -2 charge is because of the oxygen. If do not do anything with the C.
Chemistry - DrBob222, Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 5:09pm
Chopsticks is right. Usually you memorize a set of common anions. Here is a link to a set that includes more than just the common ones.
http://www.nauticom.net/users/jihall/bill/ions.htm
But in your case, it is far easier to do it another way. Sodium carbonate is Na2CO3. You know Na is +1 and two of them make a total of +2 on the Na. Since every compound is neutral, you KNOW the remainder is -2 (the carbonate or CO3). If you wanted to determine C, you could do that also. Na is +1, that makes a total of +2. Oxygen is -2 which makes a total of -6 for three of them. Now, what must C be to make zer?. It must be +4.

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