What Causes the Suffix Change in Ammonium Compounds?

[timmeister37]

TL;DR Summary

What do the suffixes of ammonium nitrate indicate about the compound ammonium nitrate?

One thing I remember from chemistry class is that the suffixes of the name of a compound indicate something about the composition of the compound. I am interested in the ammonium nitrate compound. As I recall, if you have the same type of compound but a different isotope of that compound, that would change the suffix of the compound.

What exactly causes the suffix of a compound to change? Is it the charge of an ionic compound that causes the suffix to change?

For instance, how would ammonium nitrite differ from ammonium nitrate?

How would ammonia nitrate differ from ammonium nitrate?

 

[Nugatory]

How would ammonia nitrate differ from ammonium nitrate?

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