Questions tagged [inorganic-chemistry]

Inorganic compounds generally do not have C-H bonds, while organic compounds do have such bonds. The distinction between inorganic and organic chemistry, however, is far from absolute.

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Why is sand, sand; and why is glass, glass; While both mainly contain Silicon Dioxide?

I know that there is the famous process of heating material and converting them to glass; but what I don't know is, what is the chemical process of the creation of glass? Is it crystallization? How ...
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What is the favoured geometry of chlorine trifluoride?

Why is the first structure on the left more stable than the second one on the right? In the first one the angle between the two pair of nonbonding electrons is about 120° which is a lot less than ...
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What is the meaning of the "-osic" suffix on a metal (e.g., cobaltosic oxide)?

I just came across the term cobaltosic for the first time in the abstract of Ind Eng Chem Res 52(18): 6076, 2013 (emphasis added): A nanocomposite of cobaltosic oxide and nitrogen-doped graphene ($\...
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Why is NaCl3 possible?

There. And there. Almost a year ago, a group of scientists claimed to have reached compounds of $\ce{Na}$ and $\ce{Cl}$ with weird stochiometries ($\ce{NaCl3, Na3Cl, NaCl7, Na3Cl2}$ and $\ce{Na2Cl}$). ...
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What is the perfect definition for chirality?

Why is chirality defined differently for organic and inorganic compounds? Why are inorganic compounds deemed to be optically active if they have more than one of the same ligands attached to the ...
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Why is the magnesium(II) ion preferred over other ions in chlorophyll?

Chlorophyll has a $\ce{Mg^2+}$ ion. Why is it preferred over other ions? For example, what happens if there is $\ce{Zn^2+}$ or $\ce{Ca^2+}$ or any other (divalent) cation instead of $\ce{Mg^2+}$?
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Why is ligand substitution only partial with copper(II) ions and ammonia?

When studying ligand substitution (at UK year 13 level), the following example has been given: \begin{align} \ce{[Cu(H2O)_6]^2+ + 2NH3 &<=> [Cu(OH)_2(H2O)_6] + 2NH4^+}\\ \ce{[Cu(OH)_2(H2O)...
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Why is the boiling point of fluorine lower than that of oxygen?

Fluorine boils at -188.1 °C and oxygen boils at -183 °C, but shouldn't $\ce{F2}$ boil after $\ce{O2}$? Despite being electronegative elements, both are nonpolar molecules and posses dispersion forces ...
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Does freezing a solution with water always cause the water to separate and form the ice lattice?

I'm curious, I was trying to look into the affect of freezing a solution with water even when the solution is completely miscible. I came across something that detailed this regarding salt water and ...
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Why is the boiling point of stibane higher than that of ammonia?

I recently came across the fact that the boiling point of $\ce{SbH3}$ (stibane) is greater than that of $\ce{NH3}$ (ammonia). I was expecting $\ce{NH3}$ to have a greater boiling point as a ...
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Jahn-Teller Distortions in Square Planar Complexes?

A Jahn-Teller distortion is predicted whenever a non-linear symmetric molecule has degenerate orbitals and has unequal electron occupation in those degenerate orbitals. Of course, this most often is ...
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What determines how much water of crystallisation a salt has?

Is there any reason behind the number of water of crystallisation? For example, $\ce{LiCl.2H2O}$ has two waters of crystallisation, and $\ce{MgCl2.8H2O}$ has 8 waters of crystallisation. Why does $\...
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How to solidify sand

I'm doing a research project where we analyzing the structure of sand after a certain process. To get a better idea of the internal structure of the sand, we use different colors to visualize the ...
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Why is magic acid a superacid?

The above is a representation of magic acid. The left part is the acid; the right part is the solvent. Why would this combination make for a particularly good acid? The left part looks like a ...
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How many Ga atoms are connected to one As atom in solid gallium arsenide?

In Boylestad and Nashelsky's Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, the structure of GaAs is shown as follows: Arsenic is shown making five covalent bonds to neighbouring gallium atoms. However, I ...
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Why copper(I) is unstable in aqueous medium?

I am expecting that $\ce{Cu+}$ attains a $\mathrm d^{10}$ configuration by losing one electron from s-subshell. Since it has fully filled d-orbital, it should be stable. But it is found that it is ...
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Why doesn't nitrogen monoxide dimerize?

Why doesn't Nitrogen monoxide dimerize even though there is an odd electron present whereas nitrogen dioxide does (because of the odd electron on nitrogen)?
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Is borazine aromatic?

I came across this structure which has got pi bonds only in its canonical forms (which are also unstable compared to the Ist structure), is it aromatic? Also, is it compulsory for an aromatic ...
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Why doesn't EDTA complex with alkali metal ions?

EDTA complexes with all the other metal ions in the periodic table except those from the group 1. Why is this so ? What is the coordination chemistry behind this ?
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Does CN4 with the following structure exist?

I am a mathematician, not a chemist, so my questions are rather combinatorial. I am intrigued by the possibility of the following binary compound: $$\ce{\overset{-}{N}=\overset{+}{N}=C=\overset{+}{N}=\...
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What is the nature of the bonding in cyclotriphosphazene?

The bonding in $\ce{(NPCl2)3}$ (and other compounds of the form $\ce{(NPR2)3}$) has historically been described using the ‘Dewar island model’. By analogy to benzene, $\ce{(NPCl2)3}$ is π-electron ...
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What causes the "Gd break" in the trend of lanthanide-EDTA formation constants?

Smith and Martell obtained a series of data for the binding of trivalent lanthanide ions, $\ce{Ln^3+}$, with various carboxylic acid ligands (amongst them the well-known EDTA).1 A graph of the ...
orthocresol's user avatar
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Why does the solubility of group II hydroxides increase and the solubility of sulfates decrease down the group?

I know that solubility of alkaline earth metal hydroxides increases down the group and solubility of alkaline earth metal sulfates decreases down the group. What is the reason for these trends?
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Why is WF6 stable whereas CrF6 is unknown?

$\ce{F-}$ is a hard base since it is small and relatively polarizable. Both $\ce{Cr^6+}$ and $\ce{W^6+}$ are hard acids, but shouldn't $\ce{CrF6}$ be favored since it would be a smaller hard acid?
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What is the chemical structure / hybridization of sulfuric acid?

I was looking at the chemical structure of $\ce{H2SO4}$. Intuitively, I would have expected this molecule to be square planar in accordance with $p^2d^2$ or $sp^2d$ hybridization, but instead it is ...
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Can fluorine act as the central atom in interhalogen compounds?

Why can't fluorine be the central atom in inter-halogen compounds? A $\ce{F-F}$ bond is weaker than a $\ce{F-X}$ bond and thus, fluorine should be happy to form inter-halogen compounds. But, why ...
Rajath Radhakrishnan's user avatar
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Is KF the most ionic compound?

I saw somewhere (can't recall where) that KF is the most ionic compound. I expected CsF. Does the greater polarizability of Cs allow it to more easily form covalent bonds compared to K? Does this ...
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How can titanium burn in nitrogen?

I was going through the properties of titanium when a certain thing caught my eye: It was the reaction of burning of titanium in nitrogen. I was astonished to read it as I knew that neither is ...
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Why is H2SO4 a good dehydrating agent while other strong acids are not?

I understand that $\ce{H2SO4}$ is a very good dehydrating agent because it is a strong acid, so that it quickly donates $\ce{H+}$ to hydroxide ions in water to form $\ce{HSO4-}$ and $\ce{H3O+}$ .But ...
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Bond order for carbonate ion for resonance

I saw in a textbook that for carbonate ion, there are 3 resonance forms and the bond order is 1 and 1/3. So in general, how should we calculate the bond order for resonance structures? Is there any ...
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Is there any experimental evidence for OClF5?

On page 88 and 89 of this document, the author laments that $\ce{OClF5}$ has still not been discovered. He says it would be "just about the ultimate possible storable oxidizer" (for rockets). (Note: ...
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Propose a chemical formula for the white solid that forms during the initial stages of the reaction of Sn with benzyl chloride

In my inorganic class, we carried out the synthesis of chlorotribenzyltin, $\ce{SnCl(CH2C6H5)3}$. The synthesis begins with a reflux I'll describe below: In a hood, place 2.0 g (17 mmol) of 325 mesh ...
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Is it possible create crystalline solvate of electrons?

Okay, I know that this reads ridiculous insane, but one can obtain solvated electrons by adding sodium metal to liquid ammonia solution. The chemical reaction as written in my inorganic chemistry ...
xyz123's user avatar
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What is d-orbital collapse?

When I was perusing the works of Schwarz on atomic structure, I came across the unfamiliar term of d-orbital collapse. He describes it as a variation in energetic sequence from group 1 to 3 elements ...
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Why is it considered acid rain with pH <5.6?

I recently read in a book that rain is considered acid rain if the pH falls below 5.6. However a substance is acidic when the pH is below 7; so why is the boundary for acid rain 5.6? I was thinking ...
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Why can't I balance this reaction algebraically?

$$\ce{aCu + bHNO3 -> cCu(NO3)2 + dNO + eH2O}$$ (Source) I calculated: \begin{align} a &= c &(\ce{Cu})\\ b &= 2e &(\ce{H})\\ b &= 2c + d &(\ce{N})\\ 3b &= 6c + d + ...
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Where does the label ‘Dq’ to denote the field split in coordination compounds come from?

As established in a previous question, coordination compounds typically have a field split between the $\mathrm{t_{2g}}$ and the $\mathrm{e_g}$ d-orbitals.[1] This energy difference can be explained ...
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Why do the melting and boiling points of the noble gases increase when the atomic number increases?

What causes the melting and boiling points of noble gases to rise when the atomic number increases? What role do the valence electrons play in this?
Ali Mustafa's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why is sulfur hexafluoride more stable than selenium or tellurium hexafluoride?

I was just reading about p Block elements from two different books. Both books say that $\ce{SF6}$ is extremely stable in 16th group due to steric reasons but my question is why is it more stable than ...
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Counterintuitive Reaction of Aluminium On Steel Balls

There is a certain video which I just watched about 2 large cast iron balls. If the balls are struck together, no reaction happens, but if one is covered in aluminium foil and then struck, a large ...
Sarah Szabo's user avatar
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2 answers
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Do bare protons exist, even transiently, in aqueous solution?

Generally $\ce{H^+}$ ions in water remain in the form of hydronium ions ($\ce{H3O+}$), and not as "free" aqueous protons, as far as I've been taught. My question: is this always the case, even when ...
Sangkha Borah's user avatar
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What exactly happened when I added KOH to hydrogen peroxide?

I recently added a potassium hydroxide, $\ce{KOH}$, pellet to a small droplet of hydrogen peroxide (30 %), $\ce{H2O2}$. You could clearly see the potassium hydroxide dissolving in the droplet when ...
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18 votes
2 answers
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In Crystal Field Theory what does Δo=10Dq mean?

While studying the Crystal Field Theory I was told $\mathrm{Dq}$ is a unit, related to the unit $\Delta_{\mathrm{O}}$ by the relation $\Delta_{\mathrm{O}} = 10\ \mathrm{Dq}$. But aren't $\Delta_{\...
Charles's user avatar
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Why is diborane cleaved symmetrically by trimethylamine but unsymmetrically by ammonia?

I know that soft bases cleave diborane symmetrically but hard ones don't. However, what makes ammonia harder than trimethylamine? And why does hardness/softness affect this?
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Not your ordinary hard water deposit

We have a well that delivers hard water and we do not have a water softener. (There was a “green sand filter” that utilizes permanganate to oxidize other metals on the system, but it has been ...
Janice DelMar's user avatar
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3 answers
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Is the triiodide ion polar?

Three professors argue it is non-polar. My professor argues that it is a monopole, like most ions. The structure of the triiodide ion places a negative formal charge on the central iodine atom. The ...
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Neutralizing a sulfuric acid spill

From my AP Chem Prep Book: What should you do if you spill sulfuric acid on the countertop? A) Neutralize the acid with vinegar. B) Sprinkle solid NaOH on the spill. C) Neutralize the acid with ...
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Why is the melting point of PCl3 less than that of PCl5?

From just the IB chemistry bonding chapter information, you would normally deduce that $\ce{PCl3}$ and $\ce{PCl5}$ are both covalent molecules. However, as $\ce{PCl3}$ has a dipole moment, it has ...
Stone's user avatar
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Hybridization of nitrogen in trisilylamine, (SiH3)3N?

I want to know the hybridization of the central atom in $\ce{(SiH3)3N}$. I think it should be $\mathrm{sp^3}$, because $\ce{N}$ is attached to three silicon atoms and one lone pair. But actually it ...
hey's user avatar
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How can I find the symmetry labels of atomic orbitals in a molecule?

What are the symmetry labels for the p and d orbitals of platinum in $\ce{[PtCl4]^2-}$? I understand how to find the point group of a molecule, but am not sure how to use the character table to find ...
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