Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry

TOPIC 3: BONDING, PART 1

GRADE 11
SEMESTER 1/2023
Checklist

Students will be assessed on their ability to:
3A Ionic bonding
3.1 know and be able to interpret evidence for the existence of ions, limited to physical properties
of ionic compounds, electron density maps and the migration of ions’
3.2 be able to describe the formation of ions in terms of loss or gain of electrons.
3.3 be able to draw dot and cross diagrams to show electrons in cations and anions.
3.4 be able to describe ionic crystals as giant lattices of ions
3.5 Know the ionic bonding is the result of strong electrostatic attraction between the ions
3.6 understand the effects of ionic radius and ionic charge on the strength of ionic bonding
3.7 Understand the trends in ionic radii down a group in the Periodic Table, and for a set of
isoelectronic ions, including N3- to Al3-
3.8 Understand the meaning of the term “Polarization’ as applied to ions
3.9 Understand that the polarizing power of the cation depends on its radii charge, and the
polarizability of an anion also depends on its radius charge

3D Metallic bonding
3.20 Understand the metals consists of giant lattices of metal ions in a sea of delocalised
electrons
3.21 know that metallic bonding is the strong electrostatic attraction between metal ions and
the delocalized electrons.
3.22 Be able to use the models in 3.20 and 3.21 to interpret simple properties of metals
including electrical conductivity and high melting temperature

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry

BONDING AND STRUCTURE

A chemical bond is the attraction between atoms, ions or molecules that enables the formation
of chemical compounds. The two extreme cases of chemical bonds are ionic and covalent bond.

3A Formation of ions SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.2

● Ionic bond is the electrostatic force of attraction between oppositely charged ions in an
ionic lattice.
• The Ions are formed when an atom loses or gains one or more electrons.
• Cations (positive ions) are formed when an atom loses one or more electrons. Metal atoms
(except hydrogen) usually lose electrons.
• Anions (negative ions) are formed when an atom gains one or more electrons. Non-metal
atoms usually gain electrons.
• The charge on the ion depends on the number of electrons lost or gained.

• The ions can either be polyatomic or monoatomic.

SOME COMMON IONS

1 Hydrogen H+ Chloride Cl-
Sodium Na+ Bromide Br-
Potassium K + Iodide I-
Lithium Li+ Hydroxide OH-
Rubidium Rb+ Nitrate NO3-
Caesium Cs + Nitrite NO2-
Copper (I) Cu + Hydrogencarbonate HCO3-
Silver(I) Ag+ Hydrogensulphate HSO4-
Ammonium NH4 +

2 Calcium Ca2+ Sulphate SO42-

Barium Ba2+ Sulphite SO32-
Magnesium Mg 2+ Sulphide S2-
Zinc Zn 2+ Oxide O2-
Iron(II) Fe2+ Carbonate CO32-
Cobalt Co 2+ Copper(II) Cu2+
Manganese(II) Mn 2+

3 Aluminium Al3+ Phosphate PO43-

Iron(III) Fe 3+

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry

• When an ionic compound is formed the electrons lost from one atom (metals except
hydrogen) are gained by the other atom (usually non-metal).
• For example, in the formation of
sodium chloride each sodium atom
loses one electron to become a
positive sodium ion. The chlorine
molecules gain two electrons to
become two chloride ions.

SPECIFICATION
3A The giant ionic lattice OBJECTIVE 3.4
and 3.5

● Ionic compounds or ionic crystals exist as giant ionic lattices. Eg: NaCl.
● In an ionic solid, there are strong electrostatic interactions between the ions.
● The ions are arranged in a such a way that maximizes the attraction between the opposite
ions and minimizes the repulsion between similar charged ions.

The diagram below represents part of the structure of sodium chloride. Note that each sodium
ion is surrounded by six chloride ions and each chloride ion is surrounded by six sodium ions.

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry

SPECIFICATION
3A Dot and cross diagrams for ionic compounds OBJECTIVE 3.3

Electronic changes involved in the formation of ionic compounds can be shown by dot and cross
diagrams.
A dot and cross diagram shows

• only the outer electron shells

• The charge of the ion is spread evenly by using square brackets
• The charge of each ion is written on the top right hand corner of square brackets
• Electrons of one atom are represented using a cross and the other using a dot.

Worked Example

EXERCISE 1

Draw the dot/cross diagram for the following ionic compounds. Show the outer electrons only.

a) NaCl b) CaO

c) MgBr2 d) Li2O

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry

SPECIFICATION
3A Physical properties of ionic compounds OBJECTIVE 3.1 & 3.4

High melting temperatures

• Ionic solids consist of giant lattice network
of oppositely charged ions.
• There are many ions in the lattice and the
combined electrostatic force of attraction
among all of the ions is large.
• A large amount of energy is required to
overcome the forces of attraction
sufficiently for the ions to break free from
the lattice.

Electrical conductivity
Ionic solids conduct electricity when molten and in aqueous solutions, but not in the solid state.
• Solid ionic compounds, in general do not conduct electricity because the ions are tightly
held in the lattice structure and the ions are not free to move to conduct electricity.
• However, in the molten state and in aqueous solution, ions are free to move to conduct
electricity.
Brittleness
• Ionic model has oppositely charged ions
arranged in a lattice.
• If a force is applied, the ions in one layer
would move relative to the other layers,
putting ions of the same charge next to each
other.
• The repulsive forces that results force the
two layers apart and shatters the compound.
• This suggests that they have particles held in a regular structure and have no ‘sea of
electrons’ as in metals. This also explains the ionic model with oppositely charged ions
arranged in a lattice.

Solubility

• Many ionic solids are soluble in water.

• The energy required to break apart the lattice structure and separate the ions is supplied
by hydration of separated ions produced.

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry

• Both positive and negative ions are attracted to water molecules because of the polarity
that water molecules possess.

Oxygen ends are Hydrogen ends

attracted to the are attracted to
positive ions. the negative
ions.

3A Evidence for the existence of the ions SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.5

Electrolysis
Behavior of ionic compounds during electrolysis is a clear evidence for the existence of ions.

Example 1: when electric current is passed through molten

sodium chloride, sodium is formed at the negative electrode
and chlorine is formed at the positive electrode. In this case,
the positive ions move towards the negative electrode where
they gain electrons and become sodium atoms. The negative
chloride ions migrate towards the positive electrode where
they lose electrons and become chlorine molecules.

Example 2: Aqueous copper (II) chromate (VI) is an olive

green solution. When it is electrolyzed, a blue colour appears
around the negative electrode (cathode) and a yellow colour
appears around the positive electrode (anode). This is
because positive blue copper (II) ions, Cu2+ are attracted to
the cathode and yellow chromate (VI), CrO42- ions are
attracted to the anode
CrO42- ions Cu2+ are
are attracted attracted to
to the anode the cathode
(YELLOW) (BLUE)

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry
Electron density maps
They provide more evidence for existence of ions.
● Electron density maps of compounds
produced from X-ray diffraction patterns show
zero electron density between ions. This
means electrons are completely transferred
and there is no sharing of electrons.

3A Strength of Ionic bonding SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.6

• An ionic compound is stable because of the electrostatic attraction between its positive
and negative ions.
• The lattice energy of a compound is a measure of the strength of this attraction.
• Lattice energy can be defined in two ways as given below:
o The lattice energy of an ionic compound is defined as the heat energy required
(endothermic) to break one mole of an ionic crystal to form separate gaseous ions
under standard conditions.
o Lattice energy is also defined as the energy released (exothermic) when one mole
of an ionic crystal lattice is formed from its separate gaseous ions under standard
conditions.
• In both cases, a larger magnitude for lattice energy indicates a more stable ionic
compound.
Factors affecting the strength of ionic bond
1) Ionic charge
Higher charge,
More attraction between the ions
the energy required to separate the ions is larger.

2) Ionic radii
Smaller ionic radii/smaller ions
More attraction between the ions
the energy required to separate the ions are larger.

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Worked example
Compound Lattice Energy/ kJmol-1
NaCl 780
MgCl2 2526

Lattice energy is greater for Magnesium chloride, MgCl2 than Sodium Chloride, NaCl. This is
because the charge of Magnesium ion (Mg2+) is greater than that for sodium ion (Na+) and
magnesium ions are smaller than sodium ions. As the charge of an ion increases and, so does its
charge density. The ion can therefore form stronger electrostatic forces of attraction, resulting
in stronger bonds. Therefore, more energy is required to overcome the electrostatic force of
attraction between the ions in MgCl2 than NaCl.

3A Trends in Ionic radii SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.7

● The radius of a positive ion is smaller than the

element’s atomic radius. This is because as the
electrons are removed the remaining electrons are
more strongly attracted to the positive nucleus. In
general, the ionic radius decreases as the number of
protons increases.

● The radius of a negative ion is larger than the element’s

atomic radius. This is because as the electrons are
gained, the number of electrons increases and therefore
are bound less tightly to the nucleus.

● Size of isoelectronic species decreases from anions to cations, as the proton number increases.
This is because less number of electrons are held by more protons thus increasing attraction.

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry
● Ionic radius increases down a group as the number of shells increases.

EXERCISE 2

Explain the trend in the following ionic radii

(a) Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Be 2+
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

3A Polarization and Polarising power of ions SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.8
and 3.9

• In an ionic lattice, the positive ions will attract the electrons of the anion. If the electrons
are pulled towards the cation, the anion is polarized.
• Some degree of covalency is present in ionic compounds due to polarizing power of the
cation and polarizability of the anion.

Polarizing power of a cation:

● It is the ability of a cation to distort the electron cloud of the anion in an ionic lattice.
● The polarizing power of a cation depends on its charge density:
o a small cation is more polarizing than a larger one – the positive nucleus has more
effect across the small ionic radius
o a cation with a large charge is more polarizing than one with a small charge – a
large charge has more attraction than a small one.

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Centre for Higher Secondary Education Department of Chemistry
Polarizability of an anion:

● It is the tendency of the electron cloud of an anion to be distorted by the polarizing power
of the cation in the ionic lattice.
● The polarizability of an anion depends on its size alone:
o a large anion is easily polarized – its electron cloud is further from the nucleus and
is held less tightly than on a smaller anion.

100% ionic, No polarization, ions completely separate

Anion polarized by the cation

Polarization so great that the electron density resembles a covalent

bond.

● So, a cation with high polarizing power and an anion that is highly polarizable will lead to a
higher degree of covalent character being present in the ionic compound.

EXERCISE 3

Question 1: Which of the two fluorides has more covalent character, NaF or MgF2? Explain with a
sketch.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3D The Metallic lattices SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.20
and 3.21

The metallic bond is the strong electrostatic force of attraction

between the metal cation and the sea of electrons.Metals consist of
giant lattices of metal ions in a sea of delocalized electrons.

● Metal atoms lose their outermost shell electrons and form a

delocalized cloud of electrons surrounding the metal cations.
● Metal cations are submerged in the sea of delocalized
electrons and are held by strong electrostatic forces of
attraction.

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The strength of metallic bond
The strength of the metallic bond increases
o as the charge of the metal ion increases
o as the number of electrons in the delocalized cloud of electrons increases.

The strength of metallic bonding increases from sodium to aluminium

3D The properties of metals SPECIFICATION

OBJECTIVE 3.22
Conduct electricity
The delocalized electrons are free to move through the lattice structure in the same
direction when an electric field is applied to the metal.

Thermal conductivity
The delocalized electrons move easily and so can transmit kinetic energy (heat) through
the metal, from a hot region to a cooler region by colliding with each other (vibration).

Generally high melting and boiling points

The lattice of positive ions held tightly together by the attraction of negatively charged
delocalized electrons. The strong attraction between the positive and the negative
electrons means it takes a lot of energy to break the metallic bonds and allow the particles
to move around in the liquid state.

Malleability and ductility (can be hammered or pressed out of shape without breaking) and ductile
(able to be drawn into a wire)
The layer of positive ions can be forced to slide across each other while staying surrounded
by a sea of delocalized electrons.

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