N2O4 is also known as Dinitrogen tetroxide. This is one of the chemical compounds that is commonly used in doing chemical synthesis. This type of gas is colorless so it may be hard to detect. Take note that this compound may not always be one of those that are always used and it may not have any significant effect on all of the other compounds that it will be mixed with but it is important to know more about this and all the other compounds so that you will have an easy time monitoring and recognizing the different ones available. N2O4 is not the most reduced formula however, NO2 is known to be its empirical form.
This compound contains only nonmetals and therefore it is a molecular compound. For molecular compounds you add prefixes to indicate the # of atoms of each element. Since there is 2 nitrogen atoms, we add di- before nitrogen. Since there are 4 oxygen atoms, we add tetra- before oxygen and since the oxygen is the last element we change its ending to -ide.
