{ "model": { "rank": 2524, "code": "thing-q83147", "model_id": "vr.tr.chemical-formula", "name": "chemical formula", "purpose": "Let an agent explain chemical formulas and their kinds, relay notation rules and conventions from chemistry references, describe ionic formulas, formula units and formula weights, and distinguish formulas from chemical names, chemical equations and structural diagrams.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q83147/", "tier": 2, "score": 103, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "binary species formula notation", "generalized salt formula", "chemical formula weight", "Ionic formula", "formula unit", "raw formula", "molecular formula", "empirical formula", "condensed formula", "cement chemist notation", "line formula", "Wiswesser line formulae", "structural formula", "skeletal formula", "Lewis structure", "stereochemical formula", "Condensed structual formula", "Dashed structural formula", "Markush structure" ], "aliasCount": 19, "merged": 19, "knownIn": 103, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q83147", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q83147", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T14:49:35Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q83147", "registryId": "vr.tr.chemical-formula", "name": "chemical formula", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q83147/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.chemical-formula", "name": "chemical formula", "purpose": "Let an agent explain chemical formulas and their kinds, relay notation rules and conventions from chemistry references, describe ionic formulas, formula units and formula weights, and distinguish formulas from chemical names, chemical equations and structural diagrams.", "definition": "A notation using element symbols, numbers and other signs to express the composition of a chemical substance, from empirical and raw formulas giving element ratios and molecular formulas giving atom counts to structural formulas showing bonding, with conventions for ionic compounds and formula units, generalised salt and binary species notation, and the formula weight computed from the formula; chemical formulas follow IUPAC rules.", "what_it_is_for": "Expressing chemical composition.", "affordances": [ "explain formula kinds", "relay notation rules", "describe ionic conventions", "distinguish related notations" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Symbolic", "Several kinds", "IUPAC rules", "Basis for calculation" ], "appearance": "A string of element symbols with subscripts, such as H2O or NaCl.", "visual_identification": [ "Symbolic expression of composition", "Empirical and raw formula, molecular formula, ionic formula, formula unit, formula weight, binary species notation", "Names are words; equations show reactions; structural diagrams draw bonds" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "water", "typical_range": "H2O", "unit": "note", "note": "molecular formula" }, { "quantity": "sodium chloride", "typical_range": "NaCl", "unit": "note", "note": "formula unit" }, { "quantity": "Berzelius notation", "typical_range": "1813", "unit": "year", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "empirical and raw formulas", "molecular formulas", "structural and condensed formulas", "ionic formulas and formula units", "generalised formulas for salts and binary species", "formula weight and molar mass calculations" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "notation", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is governed by", "target": "IUPAC nomenclature", "why": "rules" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "chemical equation", "why": "which shows reactions" }, { "relation": "was introduced by", "target": "Jons Jacob Berzelius", "why": "in 1813" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "IUPAC recommendations on formulas", "Labelling regulations requiring formulas" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing empirical and molecular formulas", "Misreading ionic formulas as molecules", "Registry aliases mixing notation kinds and derived quantities" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a chemical formula is.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a chemical formula, and how does it differ from a name, an equation and a structural diagram?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about a kind of formula, notation rules, ionic conventions or a calculation?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are empirical, raw, molecular, structural and ionic formulas and formula units?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific kind?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "rules", "name": "Rules", "description": "Notation rules.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "iupac", "name": "IUPAC", "description": "IUPAC rules.", "findings": [ { "id": "iupac-finding", "name": "IUPAC", "description": "IUPAC.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do IUPAC rules order elements and write charges, hydrates and polymers?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "ionic", "name": "Ionic", "description": "Ionic and salt notation.", "findings": [ { "id": "ionic-finding", "name": "Ionic", "description": "Ionic.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are ionic compounds, generalised salts and binary species written?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "calculate", "name": "Calculate", "description": "Calculation.", "rationale": "Application.", "layers": [ { "id": "weight", "name": "Weight", "description": "Formula weight.", "findings": [ { "id": "weight-finding", "name": "Weight", "description": "Weight.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is formula weight or molar mass computed from a formula?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits molar mass?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "analysis", "name": "Analysis", "description": "From analysis to formula.", "findings": [ { "id": "analysis-finding", "name": "Analysis", "description": "Analysis.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are empirical and molecular formulas determined from analysis?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits elemental analysis?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History and computing.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did formula notation develop from Berzelius to modern conventions?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of chemistry?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "computing", "name": "Computing", "description": "Computing.", "findings": [ { "id": "computing-finding", "name": "Computing", "description": "Computing.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are formulas represented in databases and line notations such as SMILES?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits SMILES?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should formula unit and formula weight be separate primary entries?", "How should chemistry references be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming notation kinds and a derived quantity; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "work, medium or creative form", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a chemical formula, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain chemical formulas and their kinds, relay notation rules and conventions from chemistry references, describe ionic formulas, formula units and formula weights, and distinguish formulas from chemical names, chemical equations and structural diagrams.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: binary species formula notation, generalized salt formula, chemical formula weight, Ionic formula, formula unit, raw formula, molecular formula, empirical formula, condensed formula, cement chemist notation, line formula, Wiswesser line formulae.", "19 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 103 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a chemical formula, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says", "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "What is seen is a copy or a performance, not the work. Recognising the work means recognising the content through whatever is carrying it." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "binary species formula notation", "generalized salt formula", "chemical formula weight", "Ionic formula", "formula unit", "raw formula", "molecular formula", "empirical formula", "condensed formula", "cement chemist notation", "line formula", "Wiswesser line formulae" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 103 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 19 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one chemical formula from another, and a chemical formula from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a chemical formula sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a chemical formula from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a chemical formula passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a chemical formula between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a chemical formula, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a chemical formula is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a chemical formula says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a chemical formula contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a chemical formula and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-manifestation", "name": "Work, version and copy", "description": "Which level of chemical formula a statement is about.", "rationale": "The work, the edition, the file and the copy in hand are four things; rights and content attach to different ones.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels of the thing", "description": "Work, expression, manifestation and item, in plain terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs at each level", "description": "Which facts hold for the work and which only for one copy.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "For chemical formula, which facts belong to the work itself, which to a version, and which to a single copy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifier exists at each level, and which one is being cited?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "versions", "name": "Versions, editions and variants", "description": "How versions differ and which is canonical to whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-record", "name": "Versions and canonicity", "description": "Differences that matter and who calls one authoritative.", "questions": [ { "id": "version-record-q01", "text": "Which versions or editions of chemical formula exist, and how do they differ substantively?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "version-record-q02", "text": "Who treats which version as authoritative, and for what purpose?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authorship-and-rights", "name": "Authorship, rights and permitted use", "description": "Who made chemical formula and what may be done with it.", "rationale": "Rights are jurisdictional, time-limited and attached to a level, and an agent that ignores that will copy what it may not.", "layers": [ { "id": "authorship", "name": "Authorship and contribution", "description": "Who contributed what, and in what capacity.", "findings": [ { "id": "contribution-record", "name": "Contributors and roles", "description": "The people and bodies behind it, with their roles.", "questions": [ { "id": "contribution-record-q01", "text": "Who authored or contributed to chemical formula, in what roles, and how is that attested?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "contribution-record-q02", "text": "Where authorship is disputed or anonymous, what is recorded instead?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights and permissions", "description": "Which rights subsist, where, until when, and what they permit.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-record", "name": "Rights, term and permitted acts", "description": "The regime in force and what it allows.", "questions": [ { "id": "rights-record-q01", "text": "What rights subsist in chemical formula, in which jurisdictions, and until when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "rights-record-q02", "text": "Which acts are permitted without further permission, and which must an agent refuse?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a chemical formula came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a chemical formula and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a chemical formula is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a chemical formula, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a chemical formula, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a chemical formula is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }