What is the compound formula for arsenic monophosphide?
1 Answer
Jul 15, 2018
AsP
Explanation:
Arsenic monophosphide is a covalent compound made from Arsenic and Phosphorus. Few reasons that point to why it's a covalent compound:
- The presence of prefix ("mono"). Only covalent compound naming uses prefixes. Ionic compound naming does not involve prefixes (mono, di, tri, tetra, etc)
- Arsenic is a metalloid and phosphorus is a nonmetal
- Electronegativity of Arsenic is 2.18 while Phosphorus is 2.19. The difference of their electronegativity is very small, making the bond that holds them together a nonpolar covalent bond.
First part of the name, arsenic:
- No changes made to the name of the first element when naming covalent compound.
- Since there's no prefix in front of Arsenic, that means there's only 1 of it in the formula as there's no need to use the prefix "mono" for the first element.
- chemical symbol: As
Second part of the name, monophosphide:
- the name of the second element in covalent compound is modified to end with "ide". In this case, the name Phosphorus is modified to become phosphide .
- The prefix "mono" represents 1. That means there's 1 Phosphorus in the formula.
- chemical symbol: P
Putting together the formula from the name: AsP