{"id":232980,"date":"2025-06-12T12:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T12:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=232980"},"modified":"2025-06-12T12:22:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T12:22:15","slug":"the-chemical-formula-of-rubidium-rb-sulfide-is-rb2s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/12\/the-chemical-formula-of-rubidium-rb-sulfide-is-rb2s\/","title":{"rendered":"The chemical formula of Rubidium (Rb) sulfide is Rb2S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The chemical formula of Rubidium (Rb) sulfide is Rb2S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chemical formula of Rubidium (Rb) sulfide is Rb\u2082S<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Explanation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The chemical formula for an ionic compound like rubidium sulfide is determined by the principle of charge neutrality. This principle states that for a stable compound to form, the total positive charge from the cations must exactly balance the total negative charge from the anions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Identifying the Ions and Their Charges:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the constituent elements must be identified as a metal and a non-metal, which indicates an ionic bond will form through the transfer of electrons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Rubidium (Rb):<\/strong>\u00a0Rubidium is an element in Group 1 of the periodic table, the alkali metals. Elements in this group have one valence electron. To achieve a stable electron configuration, similar to the nearest noble gas, rubidium will readily lose this single electron. Losing one negatively charged electron results in the formation of a cation with a positive charge of 1+. The rubidium ion is therefore written as\u00a0Rb\u207a<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sulfur (S):<\/strong>\u00a0Sulfur is in Group 16 of the periodic table. Elements in this group have six valence electrons. To achieve a stable octet, sulfur has a strong tendency to gain two electrons. Gaining two negatively charged electrons results in the formation of an anion with a charge of 2-. This ion is called the sulfide ion and is written as\u00a0S\u00b2\u207b<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    2. Balancing the Charges:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The next step is to combine these ions in a ratio that results in a net charge of zero. A single rubidium ion (Rb\u207a) has a +1 charge, while a single sulfide ion (S\u00b2\u207b) has a \u20132 charge. These do not balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To achieve neutrality, two rubidium ions are required to balance the charge of one sulfide ion. The total positive charge from two Rb\u207a ions is (2 \u00d7 +1) = +2. This +2 charge perfectly cancels out the \u20132 charge of a single S\u00b2\u207b ion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (2 \u00d7 Rb\u207a) + (1 \u00d7 S\u00b2\u207b) \u2192 (+2) + (\u20132) = 0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Writing the Chemical Formula:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The chemical formula reflects this simplest whole-number ratio of ions. By convention, the cation is written first, followed by the anion. The number of each ion required for neutrality is written as a subscript after the element’s symbol. In this case, the ratio is two rubidium ions to one sulfide ion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Therefore, the formula is written as Rb\u2082S<\/strong>. The subscript ‘2’ applies to rubidium, and the subscript for sulfur is ‘1’, which is implied and not written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The chemical formula of Rubidium (Rb) sulfide is Rb2S. The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The chemical formula of Rubidium (Rb) sulfide is Rb\u2082S. Explanation The chemical formula for an ionic compound like rubidium sulfide is determined by the principle of charge neutrality. This principle states that for a stable compound to form, the total positive […]<\/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-232980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232980","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=232980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}