What is the subscript in a chemical equation?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking about the role of subscripts in a chemical equation, which are the small numbers that indicate the number of atoms of each element present in a molecule or compound.
Answer
A subscript indicates the number of atoms of an element in a molecule.
In a chemical equation, a subscript is a small-sized number on the bottom right of an element symbol, indicating the number of atoms of that element in the molecule.
Answer for screen readers
In a chemical equation, a subscript is a small-sized number on the bottom right of an element symbol, indicating the number of atoms of that element in the molecule.
More Information
Subscripts play a key role in determining the composition and properties of compounds by depicting the exact number of atoms involved.
Tips
Common mistakes include confusing subscripts with coefficients, which indicate the number of molecules rather than atoms.
Sources
- Chemical Nomenclature & Notation - study.com
- What are subscripts used for in writing chemical equations? - Socratic - socratic.org
- What is the difference between a coefficient and a subscript? - socratic.org
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