Question

What is a molecular formula?

Answer 1

The molecular formula is a representation of the elements present in a compound and the number of their atoms. It depicts the way one or more than one elements can combine with elements by either ionic, covalent, or co-ordinate covalent bonding.

Complete answer:
The molecular formula describes the exact number and the type of the atoms that are involved in a single molecule of a compound. The constituent elements are represented by their respective chemical symbols, and the number of each element present inn each molecule is denoted by a subscript following that element’s symbol. The molecular formula expresses information about the proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, using a single line of chemical elements symbols and numbers. These molecular formulas often include other symbols such as parenthesis, brackets, dashes, dots, commas, plus (+) and minus (-) signs.

Note:
For organic compounds, all compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and some contain the oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine, etc. and other elements.
For ionic compounds the cation generally precedes the anion. For example, sodium chloride: $\text{NaCl}$, potassium bromide $\text{KBr}$,etc.
In case of the coordination compounds, which are formed due to the coordinate bond formation between the metal ions and the ligands that donate their lone pair of excess pairs of electrons to satisfy the secondary valence of the metal ions. The ligands that satisfy the metal ions are placed in the parenthesis and the entire complex compound is placed in the third brackets.