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Martin - マーチン ♦
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Name Trivial name of a compound vs its chemical formula

I had a question saying "What is the chemical formula for Lithium aluminum hydride?"andlike below and I've had trouble with similar problems before and how to go about solving for the chemical formula.

What is the chemical formula for lithium aluminum hydride?

The first thing that comes to mind, alright. Wewe have one lithium, one aluminum and one hydride. Then why is the chemical formula LiAlH4$\ce{LiAlH4}$? Where did the four H$\ce{H}$ atoms come from? Earlier on in the course we had stuff like "What is the chemical formula for di-arsenic trioxide?"

What is the chemical formula for di-arsenic trioxide?

And that one is easy, I have 2 Arsenicarsenic and 3 Oxygenoxygen. Given the full name I can easily deduce the formula  (or the other way around). But what do you do in situations where you don't get "all the information". Do I go about thinking up how the structure works and see that it somehow logically follows that it NEEDSneeds to be H4four $\ce{H}$? 

I know most basic compounds so like Sulphate, e.g. sulphate is SO4^(2-)$\ce{SO4^2-}$, but I feel like I can't memorize some of the things. There has to be a more general way to do this it. It feels like and I must have missed it. Essentially, the full systematic names are no problem, but the trivial names are giving me a rough time and I'm scared if they come up during my finals next week. Any tips regarding that?

Thanks in advance.

Name of a compound vs its chemical formula

I had a question saying "What is the chemical formula for Lithium aluminum hydride?"and I've had trouble with similar problems before and how to go about solving for the chemical formula.

The first thing that comes to mind, alright. We have one lithium, one aluminum and one hydride. Then why is the chemical formula LiAlH4? Where did the four H atoms come from? Earlier on in the course we had stuff like "What is the chemical formula for di-arsenic trioxide?" And that one is easy, I have 2 Arsenic and 3 Oxygen. Given the full name I can easily deduce the formula(or the other way around). But what do you do in situations where you don't get "all the information". Do I go about thinking up how the structure works and see that it somehow logically follows that it NEEDS to be H4? I know most basic compounds so like Sulphate is SO4^(2-) but I feel like I can't memorize some of the things. There has to be a more general way to do this it feels like and I must have missed it. Essentially, the full systematic names are no problem but the trivial names are giving me a rough time and I'm scared if they come up during my finals next week. Any tips regarding that?

Thanks in advance.

Trivial name of a compound vs its chemical formula

I had a question like below and I've had trouble with similar problems before and how to go about solving for the chemical formula.

What is the chemical formula for lithium aluminum hydride?

The first thing that comes to mind, we have one lithium, one aluminum and one hydride. Then why is the chemical formula $\ce{LiAlH4}$? Where did the four $\ce{H}$ atoms come from? Earlier on in the course we had stuff like

What is the chemical formula for di-arsenic trioxide?

And that one is easy, I have 2 arsenic and 3 oxygen. Given the full name I can easily deduce the formula  (or the other way around). But what do you do in situations where you don't get "all the information". Do I go about thinking up how the structure works and see that it somehow logically follows that it needs to be four $\ce{H}$? 

I know most basic compounds, e.g. sulphate is $\ce{SO4^2-}$, but I feel like I can't memorize some of the things. There has to be a more general way to do this. It feels like and I must have missed it. Essentially, the full systematic names are no problem, but the trivial names are giving me a rough time and I'm scared if they come up during my finals next week. Any tips regarding that?

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Name of a compound vs its chemical formula

I had a question saying "What is the chemical formula for Lithium aluminum hydride?"and I've had trouble with similar problems before and how to go about solving for the chemical formula.

The first thing that comes to mind, alright. We have one lithium, one aluminum and one hydride. Then why is the chemical formula LiAlH4? Where did the four H atoms come from? Earlier on in the course we had stuff like "What is the chemical formula for di-arsenic trioxide?" And that one is easy, I have 2 Arsenic and 3 Oxygen. Given the full name I can easily deduce the formula(or the other way around). But what do you do in situations where you don't get "all the information". Do I go about thinking up how the structure works and see that it somehow logically follows that it NEEDS to be H4? I know most basic compounds so like Sulphate is SO4^(2-) but I feel like I can't memorize some of the things. There has to be a more general way to do this it feels like and I must have missed it. Essentially, the full systematic names are no problem but the trivial names are giving me a rough time and I'm scared if they come up during my finals next week. Any tips regarding that?

Thanks in advance.