How the heck can you just look at a representation of a molecule and know what it is?
Do you just know them (memorized), or is there a way of deducing it?
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How the heck can you just look at a representation of a molecule and know what it is?
Do you just know them (memorized), or is there a way of deducing it?
It's all based on trends that you pick up after a while.
The way I figured it out:
The smallest atoms are obviously Hydrogen, because they are terminal, and are only bonded to one thing. So far, that gives you .
Next, I looked at what the hydrogens were attached to. Based on the geometry and the number of bonds, it was most likely oxygen. It was an assumption, but a safe one. So that gives you .
That made the rest easy, because based on bonding/geometry trends, the central atom could be Boron or Phosphorous. Phosphorous didn't make sense to me in this instance, but Boron would make it Boric Acid.
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Since this one seems to be especially puzzling, I'll give a huge hint:
