First, let\'s start with naming ionic compounds. A binary ionic compound has one metal and one nonmetal present in the compound. Rubidium chloride, or RbCl, is a binary ionic compound. The metal here is Rb (rubidium, group 1A) and the nonmetal is Cl (chlorine, group 7A). When you name binary ionic compounds, you mention the cation (positively charged ion) first (usually metals, those elements that appear on the left side of the periodic table have the tendency to form positively-charged ions). Then mention the anion (negatively charged ion). The cation is rubidium (Rb). We mention it thus: Rubidium The anion is chlorine. When we write the name of the anion [alongside with the cation], we drop the ending -ine (or whatever ending it may have) and replace it with -ide. So chlorine now becomes chlor + ide = chloride. Therefore, the name of the compound is Rubidium Chloride. When you write the formulas of binary ionic compounds, you use the criss-cross method. Here\'s how it works: Rubidium has a charge of +1. Chlorine has a charge of -1. You interchange the charges of both ions. These charges, when interchanged, become the subscripts of the elements in the compound. Hence, the compound now looks Rb1Cl1. Since the subscripts are all 1, we can remove them and write the formula as RbCl. Here\'s another example: Give the formula of the compound magnesium chloride. Mg has a charge of +2. Chlorine has a charge of -1. When you interchange the respective charges of magnesium and chlorine, we get the following formula: Mg1Cl2 We simplify this as MgCl2. A list of the common cations and ions is found at the back page or on the chapter of naming chemical compounds of your chemistry book. Take time to know them by heart. But what if... you\'ve got a compound named sodium nitrate. Ok. The formula is NaNO3. How did I know? Sodium nitrate is an example of a ternary ionic compound. A ternary ionic compound has two or more elements present in it. In this case, there are 3 (Na, N and O). The naming system of ternary ionic compounds is the same as that of binary ionic compounds. Let\'s name the participating ions: Na+ NO3- NO3- is the formula for the polyatomic ion (two or more elements joined together sharing a common charge; they act as one unit when they combine with other elements) nitrate. We interchange the charges of sodium and nitrate. Interchanging them gives us the formula NaNO3 To name this formula, just combine the name of the cation and anion together. In this case, it is sodium nitrate. What if we have a formula like this? Ba(OH)2 Don\'t worry. This is just barium hydroxide. Let\'s analyze why this came about. The charge of Ba is +2 and hydroxide (OH-) is -1. When you combine them together by interchanging subscripts, we get the following: BaOH2 Wait. The formula doesn\'t make sense. H is not the only atom having two of its kind, but O too. So we put parentheses around hydroxide to indicate that there are two units of the hydroxide ion, each of which h.