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Is it possible for there to be a compound with no molecules?

I am supposed to complete a worksheet for my college chemistry course that is due soon. I am completely stuck on this. Being terrible at chemistry, I have searched the internet for information on compounds and molecules, but my question remains unanswered.

I am supposed to identify some substances as:

1) elements and molecules

2) elements but not molecules

3) compounds and molecules

4) compounds but not molecules

I either answered 1 or 3 on everything, except 'He' which got a two.

Is it even possible for a compound to not be a molecule? I thought that anything with two or more atoms was a molecule, and two or more different elements were w compound, meaning that you'll always have two atoms because every element has at least on atom, correct?

Looking at the list of 4 things up there, what would you classify NHv4Cl, S8, KBr, and IF3 as?

Does it have something to do with the elements themselves?

Those are my questions - I will eagerly award 10 points if you can explain this to me.

Update:

In NHv4Cl, that 'v' before the 4 is supposed to indicate a subscript, there are 4 atoms of hydrogen. I didn't add subscripts to the others, so it might have been confusing.

1 Answer

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  • Anonymous
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    1) hydrogen (H2), oxygen (O2), nitrogen (N2)

    2) helium, argon, neon

    3) water (H2O), sucrose, glucose, sulfuric acid, acetic acid

    4) salts: sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride (KCl), etc..

    NH4Cl (ammonium chloride) - compound, salt

    S8 (sulfur) - compound, element

    KBr (potassium bromide) - compound, salt

    IF3 (trifluoroiodine) - compound, molecule

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