Inquire Computational Activity
Naming Acids
Now it’s your turn to try your hand at building and naming acids using the
program ChemSketch. Your goal is to build several of the acid compounds
using ChemSketch and have the program name it. Once you have named all
the acids, try and generate rules for naming acids based on your results.
Let’s get started!
We will start with some typical gas molecules that you have probably seen
before. When these molecules are placed into water, they become common
acids. When we name the molecules, we will name them all as acids.
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1. Go to start in the lower left hand corner then to all programs and then
ACDLABS 12.0. Then click “OK.”
2. Once the program has opened, look in the left hand corner and make
sure you have ChemSketch active.
3. Now let’s try a couple of easy ones. Click “Cl” and then click on the
drawing window. It should appear as HCl. You have made your first
acid, but what is the name? Well, it won’t name it for you. Using the
websitehttp://fsc.fernbank.edu/Chemistry/info.html name the acid.
This will give you the groundwork for naming more complex acids.
Formula
Name
a. HCl

b. HF

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c. HBr

d. HI

e. H2S

1. These acids you have created and named are all binary acids.
2. What are some general rules you can come up with for naming these
types of acids?
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* Now let’s make some more complexed acids.
1. In ChemSketch, go to the tool bar and click on “templates” then
“template window.”
2. Once the window opens, click on the pull down window to the right of
draw and select Anions. What is an Anion?
3. You should see a list on polyatomic ions. We are going to try using
these ions to make acids. Click on the structure for the sulfate ion.
Once you do this it will take you back to the ChemSketch pad. Then
click on the workspace to place the structure.
4. Now find Hydrogen on the left hand side and attach them to the
negatively charged oxygens on the structure. To do this, click and on
an oxygen and drag it to an open area.
5. Now that you have attached two hydrogens to the structure lets see if
ChemSketch will name it for us. On the toolbar click on “tools” then
“generate” and then “name for structure”. If done correctly, the name
sulfuric acid should appear under the structure. If not, try again.
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Formula
Name
a. H2SO4

b. H3PO4

c. HNO2

d. HOCN

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e. H2SO3

f. H3PO3

*Can you make anymore acids?
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 Now for these acids, try and prepare some rules for naming them.
Hint: look for trends among the different acids
 Now that you have created rules for binary acids and polyatomic
acids, create a list of rules that you believe are the correct rules for
naming each type of acid. Be detailed in your rules because this will
be your guide for the upcoming quiz!!
Rules for Naming Acids
Testing your rules on nomenclature
Let’s see if your rules work that you generated for nomenclature. First open
a browser and go to this website:
http://fsc.fernbank.edu/chemistry/PROBLEMS.html. On this site is a quiz
that I want you to try using your rules for nomenclature. If you find anything
wrong that needs correcting about your rules then this is the time to modify
them.
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