How can I write the formula for potassium bromide?

1 Answer
Mrs Goodson
May 18, 2014

You need to know the ions for potassium and bromide. Potassium is in Group 1 of the Periodic table so it loses one electron to become K+ and the Bromine atom is in Group 17 so it gains one electron to become Br-. The charges are therefore +1 and -1 and they balance and cancel each other out so the compound Potassium Bromide is one potassium ion (K+) and one bromide ion (Br-). The charges cancel out so are not shown. The chemical formula is written as KBr.

Related questions
See all questions in Writing Ionic Formulas
Impact of this question
41821 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License