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QUESTION

What comes first when naming ionic compounds, the cation or the ion?

The name of the cation is the first word in the name of an ionic compound. This is a convention that people have just decided to use for some reason, but it seems to work out OK.

Typically, the cation will be a metal ion. However, the ammonium ion (##NH_4+##) is a fairly common example of a cation that contains no metals.

The second word will be the name of the anion. This will be either a nonmetallic element or a group of atoms called a "polyatomic ion." Because Wikipedia is super awesome, you can check out a big list of by visiting them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyatomic_ion

Here is a video which discusses how to name ternary ionic compounds. Video from: Noel Pauller

OK.

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