Talk:Silver(I) fluoride

Can someone explain what the (I) stands for in the name? It is annoying to read an encyclopedia article and couldn't figure out what it says. Should encyclopedia article be self explantory even to laymen, instead of requiring an PhD in Chemistry to understand? If it is too much to explain, perhaps a See Also section that links to Silver(II) Fluoride and Silver(III) Fluoride would at least how readers to figure out what that (I) is for. -- Kowloonese 22:33, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The I in the name refers to the oxidation number of the metal, in this case silver. This naming system is always used whenever the metal has more than one oxidation number, to make it clear. If the compound is purely ionic, then this number also equals the charge on the metal, so silver(I) fluoride would contain an Ag+ ion and an F- ion.

This naming system is the standard one used in introductory chemistry books at the college level in the US, but I realise that many schools still use the old naming system of "argentous fluoride" and the like. Bearing in mind that we may soon have thousands of pages on Wikipedia with this notation, do you have any suggestions on how we could explain the meaning of such things? Is there a page on chemical notation?

Thanks for raising this important point, Martin A. Walker