A. Ionic - a compound consisting of a metal and a nonmetal (e.g. NaCl, KNO3, etc.)

B. Covalent - a compound consisting of nonmetals only (e.g. HCl, NO2, etc.)

C. Monoatomic ions - cations (positive metal ions) and anions (negative nonmetal ions)

1. List the metal first and then add -ide to the end of the nonmetal (e.g. NaCl is sodium chloride)

D. Polyatomic ions - ions with more than one nonmetal

1. Polyatomics must instead be memorized

E. Silver always has a +1 charge, zinc always has a +2 charge, aluminum always has a +3 charge and cadmium always has a +2 charge

1. Copper can form a +1 or +2 charge

A. Covalent compounds

B. H + nonmetal

1. Provides H+ when dissolved in water

C. Binary acids - HCl, HF, HBr (only two elements)

D. Oxyacids - HNO3, H2SO3, H3PO4 (more than two elements, one of which must be oxygen, made up of polyatomics)

E. Binary acids

1. Hydro- prefix followed by replacing -ine with -ic as the suffix of the nonmetal, add "acid" at the end (e.g. HCl = hydrochloric acid)

a. Suffix irregulars: phosphorous is phosphoric, nitrogen is nitric and sulfur is sulfuric

F. Oxyacids

1. No prefix, replace -ate with -ic and -ite with -ous for the polyatomic suffix, add "acid" at the end (e.g. HNO3 = nitric acid)