Topic 2: Bonding and Structure Flashcards
What is an ionic bond?
- an ionic bond is the strong electrostatic attraction between two oppositely charged ions
What two things affect the strength of the ionic bond?
- ionic charges
- ionic radii
How do ionic charges affect the strength of the ionic bond?
- in general, the greater the charge on an ion, the stronger the ionic bond
- therefore, higher melting/boiling point
How do ionic radii affect the strength of the ionic bond?
- smaller ions can pack closer together than the larger ions
- electrostatic attraction gets weaker with distance, so small, closely packed ions have stronger ionic bonding than larger ions
- therefore, ionic compounds with small, closely packed ions have higher melting and boiling points
What affects the size of an ion?
- the number of electron shells
- its atomic number
Explain the trend in ionic radii as you go down a group
- the ionic radius increases as you go down a group
- as you go down the group, the ionic radius increases as the atomic number increases
- this is because more electron shells are added
Describe isoelectronic ions and its trends
- isoelectronic ions are ions of different atoms with the same number of electrons
- the ionic radius of a set of isoelectronic ions decreases as the atomic number increases
- as you go through a series of ions, the number of electrons stay the same, but the number of protons increase
- this means that the electrons are attracted to the nucleus more strongly, pulling them in, so the ionic radii decreases
What structures do ionic compounds form?
- giant ionic lattice structures
- a lattice is a regular structure
- the structure is giant because the basic unit is repeated
Why do ionic compounds form giant ionic structures?
- each ion is electrostatically attracted in all directions to ions of the opposite charge
What are the physical properties of ionic compounds?
- hard, brittle crystalline substances
- high boiling and melting points: ions are held together by strong electrostatic attraction.
- are often soluble in water and other polar solvents, but insoluble in non-polar solvents: this tells us that the particles are charged, as ions are pulled apart by polar molecules e.g. water
- don’t conduct electricity when solid but do when molten or dissolved: ions are fixed in a position by strong ionic bonds in a solid, but are free to move as a liquid, or in a solution
- ionic compounds can’t be shaped: if you pull layers over each other, there will be strong repulsion between the like-charges, so they are brittle
What is a covalent bond?
- the strong electrostatic attraction between the two positive nuclei and the shared electrons in the bond
What is bond length and what affects it?
- the distance between the nuclei of the two atoms that are covalently bonded
- in covalent molecules, the positive nuclei are attracted to the area of electron density between the two nuclei
- however, the two positively charged nuclei repel each other, as do the electrons
- the distance between the two nuclei is the distance where the attractive and repulsive forces balance each other
What is a discrete molecule?
- an electrically neutral group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds
What is dative covalent bonding?
- the shared pair of electrons in the covalent bond come from only one of the bonding atoms
Describe electron pair repulsion theory
- the shape of a molecule or ion is caused by repulsion between the pairs of electrons, both bond pairs and lone pairs, that surround the central atm
- the electron pairs arrange themselves around the central atom so that the repulsion between them is at a minimum
- lone pair-lone pair repulsion > lone pair-bonding pair repulsion > bond pair-bond pair repulsion
What are the shapes and angles of different molecules?

What is electronegativity?
- the relative ability of an atom in a covalent bond in a molecule to attract the bonding electrons in a covalent bond to itself
What are the properties of more electronegative elements?
- higher nuclear charges (more protons in the nucleus)
- smaller atomic radii
- therefore, electronegativity increases across periods and up the groups
What type of compound will have a small electronegative difference?
- purely covalent
What type of compound will have a very large electronegativity difference (> 1.7)?
- ionic
What is a polar bond?
- if the bond between two atoms have different electronegativities, the bonding electrons will be pulled towards the more electronegative atom
- causes electrons to be spread unevenly, so there will be a charge across the bond
- each atom has a partial charge
What is a permanent dipole?
- a dipole is a difference in charge between the two atoms caused by a shift in electron density in the bond
- in a polar bond, the difference in electronegativity between the two atoms causes a dipole
What is an overall dipole?
- a dipole caused by the presence of a permanent charge across a molecule
- polar bonds don’t always make polar molecules
- in more complicated molecules, if polar bonds point in opposite directions, they’ll cancel each other out, making it non-polar
- if polar bonds all point in the same direction, then it will be polar
What are intermolecular forces?
- intermolecular forces are forces between molecules
- much weaker than covalent, ionic or metallic bonds
