Perchloric acid

But certain elements can generate more than two possibilities, and there are prefixes and suffixes to describe any number of oxygen atoms in the respective anion.

Let's say there are four possibilities for the number of oxygen atoms in an oxyacid, such as HClO, HClO2, HClO3, and HClO4.

We know that ClO3 minus is the chlorate ion, and ClO2 minus, with one fewer oxygens, will be the chlorite ion.

If we want to specify that there is one less oxygen than that, we will use the prefix hypo.

This is the, this is the big scene.

This is the perchloric acid scene.

Uh, and he confronts them He pulls out a 50-gallon drum of perchloric acid, which is real acid by the way.

You wouldn't keep it in plastic.

It would br- eventually break down and you wouldn't open the cover of it because the fumes would kill you in this place.

If you see the per- prefix, that's the highest number of oxygens that can get on there.

So HClO4 is perchloric acid, and it dissociates into an anion called perchlorate.

And what if, brace yourself, the acid doesn't contain any oxygen at all? Remember, hydrogen is the key player in acid, so even though oxygen is common, it's by no means required.

When a hydrogen bonds with chlorine to form an acid, since there's no oxygen, it's just called hydrochloric acid.