How are covalent compounds named?!?

Question

So How Are They Named?!

Answer 1

you do not even need to know the charges, since the formula comes right from the element names and their prefixes. Be aware that heavy use of Greek number prefixes are used in this lesson.Here are the first ten:
one-mono
two-di
three-tri
four-tetra
five-penta
six-hexa
seven-hepta
eight-octa
nine-nona
ten-deca

Example #1 - write the name for N2O.

Example #2 - write the name for NO2.

Step #1 - part of the first name is the unchanged name of the first element in the formula. In the examples above, it would be nitrogen.

If the subscript of the first element is 2 or more, you add a prefix to the name. In the first example above, you would write dinitrogen. If the subscript is one as in the second example above, you DO NOT use a prefix. You simply write the name, in this example it would be nitrogen.

Step #2 - the anion is named in the usual manner of stem plus "ide." In addition, a prefix is added. In the first example, the prefix is "mono-" since there is one oxygen. In the second example, use "di-" because of two oxygens.

The correct names of the two examples are dinitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.

Note that "monoxide" is written rather than "monooxide." It sounds better when spoken out loud.