CHEMICAL FORMULAE [BRACKETS]

branch MATTER & ATOMS

Coming from WRITING FORMULAE [SIMPLE IONIC]

Brackets in Chemical Formulae

Some formula contains brackets. For instance Copper Nitrate has the formula:

The 2 after the brackets tells us that we have two lots of everything within the brackets. This means that we have two Nitrogen atoms. It also means that we have six (2×3) Oxygen atoms.

Some Further Examples

Credit: Richard Todd