Re: Molecules & Salts (was Calcium & Carbon source).

Glenn Morton (grmorton@waymark.net)
Mon, 09 Feb 1998 06:13:18 -0600

At 10:48 PM 2/8/98 -0800, David B. Fenske wrote:
>
>>>First, calcium carbonate is a salt, not a molecule.
>>
>>OH you really didn't say that did you? Have you never heard the definition
>>of a molecule?
>>
>Glenn, I hate to quibble, but I think they're right, and this is what I
>learned in high school and university chemistry. A molecule is a
>collection of atoms covalently bonded together. In a salt, you don't have
>individual molecules, you have a collection of positive and negative ions
>forming a crystal lattice structure, held together by ionic interactions.
>When you dissolve a salt in water, you get positive and negative ions in
>solution, individually hydrated by water, you don't get a CaCO3 molecule as
>an individual entity.
>
>That's why when you buy a bottle of an organic molecule from Sigma, it has
>the MW (moleculear weight) on the label; when you buy a bottle of any salt,
>it gives you the FW (formula weight), which may or may not include water of
>hydration.

Well If that is what they are meaning then I stand corrected. I must have
missed class that day in chemistry. :-(

glenn

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