What does a chemical formula indicate?

• A. The Mass of the Compound
• B. The Elements and Their Exact Numbers
• C. The Color of the Substance
• D. The Temperature at Which It Boils

Answer: (B)

A chemical formula tells which elements are present and how many atoms of each element are in a single molecule. For example, water has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, shown as H2O. Sodium chloride has one sodium and one chlorine, shown as NaCl. The numbers in the formula indicate the exact counts of each kind of atom in the molecule.

This doesn’t directly tell you the mass of the compound, because mass depends on the atomic masses of the elements. It also doesn’t specify color or boiling point, which are influenced by how atoms are arranged and interact with each other, not just the count of atoms in the formula.