04:26 Sep 26
Actually for the binary compounds of hydrogen we have some sort of a grey area in nomenclature.
Stricto sensu they should be named respecting the rule that the most electropositive element comes first. But that's a rule with lots of exceptions...
Then there are the rules for naming the acids, one of those being that to a ion whose name ends in "...ide" (e.g. chloride), the corresponding acid gets called "hydro...ic acid" (hydrochloric acid). And again the exceptions.
As Lionel_M observed, when we're dealing with the pure H2S, gaseous, it's often called "hydrogen sulphide"; but "sulphydric acid" is at least as common in chemical articles... and treated as "more correct" by many authors.
In this particular case, the problem of whether to call it "sulphydric acid" or "hydrogen sulphide" is a non-issue -- both are okay. For congruity with the Italian original, personally I'd go for the "acid" form.
And a side note, for a comment in the answer section: CO2 is NOT an acid. To put it simple, it's an oxide which in solution presents acid characteristics due to its reaction with the water, when the (instable) carbonic acid is formed (H2CO3). |