The player is initially provided with the general structure of each formula. An example would be (????)???, which suggests a cationic complex followed by an anion, as for example (NH4)2S. Element and number guesses should be made with such possibilities in mind, and further guesses informed by the results of the earlier ones.
In a word-guessing game such as "hangman" (used in "Wheel of Fortune") the orthography of the language provides useful information to a skilled player arising from the relationships among letters. For example, from such cues and the context you should not have much difficulty completing the phrase "S?D?UM CHL?R?DE".
Simple inorganic formulas resemble words since there are many internal relationships, which constrain the elements that may occur, their order, and their quantities. These include the convention that cations come first, characteristic values and sum rules of oxidation numbers, formulas and charges of composite ions, the use of brackets, and many ideas which only come with experience concerning the reasonableness of certain formulas.
Here are four examples.
In ?NO3 the unknown element must be univalent; furthermore, alkali, such as sodium(I) compounds, are much more common than copper(I) compounds. So try sodium or hydrogen first.
Many complex anions contain three or four oxygens.
Hydrogen forms covalent bonds but alkali metals don't.
One of the hydrogens in phosphorous acid is not acidic.
Using such ideas an experienced chemist would have little difficulty completing these formulas: Na?SO4, ?3PO3, and NH?NO3.
Home page | Next (Playing the games) | Previous (Game Index)
Updated July 18, 2000