The symbolic language of substances and molecules: noise or harmony?

Abstract

Most substances are given names and formulae based upon knowledge of their molecules. However for substances most commonly met in elementary chemistry courses, especially inorganic substances, this is often not the case. The potential noise is amplified further when dealing with chemical reaction equations. It is argued that since the names and formulae given to substances and their molecules are often the same, we should give more attention to the use of state descriptors and symbols for substances and use the word molecules when we mean to refer to them.