Which formula of methanol is correct?
A. CH3OH
B. CH4O
Dear Apurva,
There are two ways of writing formula for any chemical substance. The first one is the molecular formula, that basically is an aggregation of all elements with the instance of their occurrence written in subscript. For, example if we consider the compound you mentioned, that is methanol, then the molecular formula is CH4O. Note carefully, this type of formula does not tell us how the atoms are arranged in the compound. Here comes the role of another formula, which we refer to as the structural formula and that is CH3OH for methanol.
The structural formula gives us an additional information that carbon is attached to three hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The oxygen is connected to carbon on one side and hydrogen on another side. The structure can be represented as follows.
However, in the examination if you are asked to write the formula, you need to write the structural formula.
Hope this answer helps..
Happy studying!
There are two ways of writing formula for any chemical substance. The first one is the molecular formula, that basically is an aggregation of all elements with the instance of their occurrence written in subscript. For, example if we consider the compound you mentioned, that is methanol, then the molecular formula is CH4O. Note carefully, this type of formula does not tell us how the atoms are arranged in the compound. Here comes the role of another formula, which we refer to as the structural formula and that is CH3OH for methanol.
The structural formula gives us an additional information that carbon is attached to three hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The oxygen is connected to carbon on one side and hydrogen on another side. The structure can be represented as follows.
However, in the examination if you are asked to write the formula, you need to write the structural formula.
Hope this answer helps..
Happy studying!