Ionic Compounds

Ionic Compounds

Ionic compounds... what results from ionic bonding. Can you even get that wrong?

Shown in dot and cross diagrams... Not sure I need to explain that... But have a picture!

Sodium gives up it's dot to chloride.
A horrific robbery.

If you don't understand that, it's simple. The dot is on the outer shell of the sodium and is all alone. So sodium tells it to shove off and it joins the nearly full chloride outer shell. That is the red dot next to the crosses.

Ionic Compounds

You need to know a few things... Why? Because it's on the syllabus you idiot.

• Ionic bonds always produce compounds with similiar structures
• The ions form a closely packed regular lattice arrangment (Don't worry, there's a picture)
• Ionic bonds are very strong electrostatic forces of attraction between oppositely charged ions.
• "You what?" Opposites attract right? That's all it said.
• Ionic compounds all have similar properties due to their structure (e.g. Sodium chloride and magnesium oxide)

There's your lattice.

Now this stuff is key, you don't learn it, there's gonna be a train wreck.

• HIGH MELTING POINTS and BOILING POINTS

This is due to the very strong bonds between the ions. Takes a lot of energy to break these bonds. Like 2 lovers in embrace, you can't break them apart. *insert lonely here*

And:

• They conduct Electricity when aqueous and molten.

Dissolve them in water and the ions all scatter around like kids in a swimming pool. This means the ions are "free to move". This means they can carry electric current. If an ionic compound is melted then the same thing happens. Not like children... because they'd have melted. And that's bad parenting.