What is the chemical name of the covalent compound SF_6?

• A. Sulfur hexafluoride
• B. Sulfur fluoride
• C. Sulfur difluoride
• D. Sulfur(VI) fluoride

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Identify the elements present in the compound SF_6. Here, S stands for sulfur and F stands for fluorine.
2. Recognize that SF_6 is a covalent compound composed of one sulfur atom and six fluorine atoms.
3. Recall the naming rules for covalent compounds: the first element is named first using its full element name, and the second element is named as if it were an anion (ending in '-ide'). Prefixes are used to indicate the number of atoms.
4. Apply the appropriate prefixes: since there is one sulfur atom, no prefix is used for sulfur; since there are six fluorine atoms, the prefix 'hexa-' is used before 'fluoride'.
5. Combine the parts to form the name: 'Sulfur' + 'hexa-' + 'fluoride' = 'Sulfur hexafluoride'.