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when you put is as a subscript such as CO2 you are showing that there are two atoms of oxygen in the molecule of carbon dioxide.

When you put the two at the beginning of the phrase such as 2CO you are showing that you have two separated molecules of carbon linked to oxygen.

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12y ago
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1w ago

Adding a subscript "2" to the end of a chemical formula indicates the presence of two atoms of that element in the compound. Meanwhile, adding a coefficient in front of a formula, like "2CO," indicates that there are two molecules of that compound present. This means there are two separate molecules of CO, not a new compound of CO2.

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Q: What is the difference between adding a subscript 2 to the end of the formula for co to give co2 and adding a coefficient in front of the formula to give 2co?
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Related questions

What is the difference between a subscript and a coefficient in a chemical formula?

The subscripts tell you how the atoms are bound together. The coefficient tells you how many atoms there are.


What is the difference between a subscript and coefficiant?

A coefficient is the number that goes before an element when your balancing the equation. And a subscript is the number after the element. Subscripts are not changed when you balance the equation.


Why is Fe balanced with coefficient of 3 instead of a subscript of 3?

The subscript is mentioned only in a chemical formula.3 FeCl3 in a chemical reaction is not similar to Fe3O4 in a chemical formula.


What is the number placed in front of a chemical formula that tells how many atoms or molecules there are in the formula?

That is called a coefficient in a chemical equation. It indicates the number of molecules or units of a substance involved in a reaction.


How does a subscript in a chemical formula affect balancing chemical equation?

How does a subscript affect the element just before it?


Why is the number placed below an element symbol in a chemical formula is called a subscript?

The number placed below an element symbol in a chemical formula is called a subscript because it indicates the number of atoms of that element in a molecule or compound. The subscript is written slightly below the element symbol to differentiate it from the coefficient, which applies to the whole molecule or compound.


What do the subscript and coefficent in a chemical equation tell us?

The subscript in a chemical equation tells us the ratio of atoms of each element present in a compound. The coefficient tells us the number of molecules or formula units involved in the reaction.


What is the number in front of a chemical formula called-?

The number in front of a chemical formula is called a coefficient. It represents the number of molecules or formula units of each substance in a chemical reaction.


What does a subscript in a chemical formula represents?

The subscript in a chemical formula represents the amount of that atom in that compound's formula.


What is the relationship between the number of moles of an element in a compound and its subscript in the empirical formula?

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How many oxygen atom does this have 12N2O5?

The answer to such questions is always the product of the coefficient number before the formula and the subscript number after the atom specified, in this instance 12 X 5 = 60.


What information in a balanced chemical equation shows how many moles of a reactant are involved the reaction?

The coefficient (not a subscript or superscript) placed immediately before the formula of the reactant in the equation shows how many moles of a reactant are involved in the reaction. If there is no explicit coefficient, a value of 1 for the coefficient is assumed. The coefficient in front of the molecule tells its relative number of moles.