A covalent compound involves the sharing of electrons between two non-metals.
What are the rules for covalent compounds?
- Covalent compounds use prefixes – to indicate the number of atoms of each element in the compound
- The element that is on the left of the periodic table comes first
- The element that is lower on the periodic table comes first
- If halogen is present, halogen is named first
- If hydrogen is present, hydrogen is named first
Prefixes
- mono –
- di –
- tri –
- tetra –
- penta –
- hexa –
- hepta –
- octa –
Concept check
After this, you are ready to go to (3. ionic compounds)
