when is the stock system used in nomenclature? is it used for anions? Why or Why not? Name Fe^3+ and Fe^2+

Question

How do I do this?

Answer 1

Hi Sh,

The Stock System for chemical nomenclature is used for transition metals only. This is because they can take on different charges when ions. It is only used for cations (not anions) when the cation is a transition metal. The system says, when working with a transition metal, we need to put a Roman numeral after the name to indicate the charge of the metal.

So, Fe³⁺ is iron (III)

and

Fe²⁺ is iron (II).

 

To go a little further, we could then say that FeCl₂ is iron (II) chloride, since we know each chlorine ion has a -1 charge and there are two of them. Since FeCl₂ is a neutral molecule, that means the iron has to have a +2 charge to balance out the negative charge.