* Molecular compounds are formed by nonmetals. Nonmetals share electrons to form covalent bonds, which means they don't gain or lose electrons to form ions with positive or negative charges.
* No ions are present. Since there are no ions, there are no charges to balance.
* The formula reflects the ratio of atoms. The subscripts in the formula simply indicate the ratio of each element in the molecule.
Example:
* Water (H₂O) has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The formula doesn't involve balancing charges because the hydrogen and oxygen atoms share electrons to form covalent bonds.
In contrast:
* Ionic compounds are formed by metals and nonmetals, which form ions with positive and negative charges. These charges *do* need to be balanced to create a neutral compound.
Example:
* Sodium chloride (NaCl) has one sodium ion (Na⁺) and one chloride ion (Cl⁻). The formula reflects the balancing of the +1 charge of sodium and the -1 charge of chloride.
