How would you write the chemical formula for Mercury(I) nitrate.
I have Hg(NO3)2 since the charge of nitrate is -1 and Mercury's is 1.
However, upon checking online i found that the correct formula is Hg2(No3)2.
Given that the charge for mercury in this case is 1 and nitrate is -1 then where do the subscripts "2" come from?
Thanks
woops, i meant that i have " Hg(NO3) since the charge of nitrate is -1 and Mercury's is 1." the rest of my question remains the same
I responded to your post this morning but I didn't explain why. The answer is that HgNO3 dimerizes (two molecules combine to form a single molecule) of Hg2(NO3)2. How does it do that? By forming a Hg-Hg bond.
NO3-Hg-Hg-NO3. When I was in college taking freshman chemistry the prof told us that HgCl really was Hg2Cl2 and that HgNO3 really was Hg2(NO3)2 (and he counted HgCl and HgNO3 wrong) BUT no one knew how it was hooked. The speculation was that it formed a Hg-Hg bond. Later that has been show to be so.
Thanks so much, its much clearer now:)
The chemical formula for mercury(I) nitrate is indeed Hg2(NO3)2. It may seem puzzling at first because mercury(I) typically has a charge of +1, and nitrate has a charge of -1. However, when writing the formula, we need to consider the overall charge balance.
In this case, the nitrate ion (NO3-) carries a charge of -1, so for the formula to be charge-neutral, we need two nitrate ions to balance out the charge of the mercury ions. Each mercury(I) ion (Hg2+) carries a charge of +1. By having two mercury(I) ions, we ensure that the overall charge on the cationic side (+2) is balanced out by the two nitrate anions (-2).
Therefore, the subscript "2" indicates that there are two mercury(I) ions in the compound, which are necessary to achieve charge neutrality. Hence, the correct formula for mercury(I) nitrate is Hg2(NO3)2.