| @ davidr: C2H3O2 is a very widely used and seen method of writing out the formula for the acetate ion in lower level and non-organic chemistry courses. Typically, one would see CH3COO labeled as the ethanoate ion, because writing it that way makes it to use in organic chemistry, where you'd typically be using IUPAC naming conventions more rigorously.
@Firemarsh: Again, see the above explanation. Perhaps I may just be looking at its frequency from an American point of view, although my high school chemical education was in the IB Programme, which purports to be created with the international student in mind.
Also, hydrogen sulfide is its name when not in aqueous solution, ie. as a gas when it isn't acting as an acid according to the Bronsted-Lowry or Arrhenius definitions of acids. |