Why is calcium oxide CaO, and not CaO2?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n The correct answer is: consists of one calcium (Ca) atom and one oxygen (O) atom<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n Calcium oxide (CaO) consists of one calcium (Ca) atom and one oxygen (O) atom, forming a binary ionic compound. To understand why its formula is CaO instead of CaO\u2082, we need to explore the concepts of valence, oxidation states, and the nature of ionic compounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calcium is an alkaline earth metal located in Group 2 of the periodic table. It has an atomic number of 20 and typically forms a +2 oxidation state by losing two electrons when it reacts. This +2 charge means that calcium tends to bond with two negative charges to achieve electrical neutrality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oxygen, on the other hand, is a nonmetal found in Group 16 and generally has a -2 oxidation state. This -2 charge arises from its tendency to gain two electrons to complete its outer electron shell, achieving a stable electronic configuration similar to that of noble gases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When calcium and oxygen combine, the +2 charge from the calcium ion (Ca\u00b2\u207a) and the -2 charge from the oxide ion (O\u00b2\u207b) balance each other out, resulting in a neutral compound. Therefore, the simplest formula for this ionic compound is CaO, indicating one calcium ion for every one oxide ion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we were to consider a formula like CaO\u2082, it would imply that for every calcium atom, there are two oxygen atoms. In such a case, the resulting compound would have an overall charge of -2 (due to the two -2 charges from the two oxide ions), which does not balance with the +2 charge of calcium, leading to an unstable ionic compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, the formula CaO represents a stable ionic compound formed from calcium and oxygen, ensuring charge neutrality, while CaO\u2082 would not be a valid representation for calcium oxide, as it would lead to an unbalanced charge. Thus, the correct chemical formula for calcium oxide is CaO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why is calcium oxide CaO, and not CaO2? The Correct Answer and Explanation is : The correct answer is: consists of one calcium (Ca) atom and one oxygen (O) atom Calcium oxide (CaO) consists of one calcium (Ca) atom and one oxygen (O) atom, forming a binary ionic compound. To understand why its formula is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}