Question

The chemical formula for a molecule that contains two chlorine (Cl) atoms is ___________.

Answer 1

Think about this for a second....let's consider a molecule that is familiar to us all, water, with a chemical formula of H2O (the '2' is subscript after the H). We know that each molecule of water will contain two atoms of hydrogen (H), and one atom of oxygen (O). If we were talking about the hydrogen gas molecule, with a chemical formula of H2 (with the '2' subscript once more), this would contain two atoms of hydrogen chemically bonded together.

So, if we had a molecule containing just two atoms of chlorine, each with an atomic formula of 'Cl', how would we write the chemical formula now? Give me a shout if you still can't work it out!