There are many solid compounds that release water when heated at fairly low temperatures. In these compounnds the water molecules are loosely bonded within the solid crystal at regular intervals.
The penta indicates five water molecules for each copper (II) sulphate particle and the " " indicates a weak bond between the CuSO4 and the five water molecules.
The table below shows the prefixes which are used to indicate the number of water molecules.
mono one di two tri three tetra four penta five hexa six hepta seven octa eight nona nine deca ten
1. zinc sulphate heptahydrate ZnSO4 . 7H2O
2. copper (I) sulphite monohydrate Cu2SO3 . H2O
3. cobalt (II) fluoride tetrahydrate CoF2 . 4H2O
4. lithium nitrate trihydrate LiNO3 . 3H2O
5. sodium sulphate decahydrate Na2SO4 . 10H2O
6. calcium nitrate trihydrate Ca(NO3)2 . 3H2O
7. calcium sulphate hexahydrate CaSO4 . 6H2O
8. sodium phosphite tetrahydrate Na3PO3 . 4H2O
9. aluminum hypochlorite octahydrate Al(ClO)3 . 8H2O
10. cesium carbonite dihydrate Cs2CO2 . 2H2O
11. Na2SO4 10H2O sodium sulphate decahydrate
12. LiNO3 3H20 lithium nitrate trihydrate
13. Cu2SO3 3H20 copper sulphate trihydrate
14. Ca(N03) 2 2H20 calcium nitrate dihydrate
15. NaCl04 H20 sodium perchlorate monhydrate
16. MgS04 7H20 magnesium sulphate heptahydrate
17. Cs2CO2 2H20 cesium carbonite dihydrate
18. ZnS04 7 H20 zinc sulphate heptahydrate
19. Na3P03 4H20 sodium phoshite tetrahydrate
20. Ni(N03) 2 6H20 nickle nitrate hexahydrate
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