Name: Amelia Llewellyn

Grade: 10/49

Date: 26/01/21

Lab #: 4

Title: Physical properties of Ionic and Covalent Substances

Aim: To determine whether the unknown substance A & B are ionic or covalent

Apparatus: Bunsen burner, beakers, test, tubes, test-tube holder

Materials: alcohol, distilled water, carbon disulfide, sodium chloride, sulfur.

Observations:

TESTS OBSERVATION INFERENCE

Solid A Solid B Solid A Solid B

1. Describe the This solid is semi clear This solid is a It is an ionic It is a covalent
appearance of and has a hard crystal powdery yellow substance. substance.
solid A and B. like appearance and substance.
feel. It is very small
and grainy.
2. Add water to The substance after This substance after It is an ionic It is a covalent
solid A and B, shaking it dissolves being placed in substance. substance.
Shake and almost immediately in distilled water and
observe. the distilled water. shaken, does not
dissolve in the
solvent.
3. Heat a solid When strong amounts The substance, after It is an ionic It is a covalent
sample of of heat is applied to being immediately substance. substance.
substance A and this substance, it place under heat, it
then B, observe, shows little to no signs melts and takes the
and allow it to of melting. It also form of liquid.
cool. begins to make
popping sounds.
 4. Then add The solid after being The substance after It is an ionic It is a covalent
alcohol to solid A placed in the alcohol being added to the substance. substance.
and carbon and is shaken, shows carbon disulfide and
disulfide to solid no reaction. It does shaking it dissolves
B, shake and not dissolve. after a short amount
observe. of time.

Title: Table Showing The Physical Properties Of Solid A And Solid B.

Discussion: Ionic substances tend to have higher melting and boiling points than covalent substances.
They also tend to be hard and brittle while covalent substances tend to be softer and more flexible.
Most crystals are ionic substances. Covalent substances can exist as crystals, though. Examples include
sugar crystals and diamond. After doing certain tests on solids A & B, a few observations were drawn.
Solid A was found to be hard and have a crystal like appearance whereas solid B was more of a yellow
powdery substance. With this we can assume that solid A is Sodium Chloride and solid B is Sulfur.

Then the solids we separately added into distilled water. Water is a polar solvent. This is because it can
be attracted to either the positive or negative electrical charge on a solute. It can dissolve ions and other
polar compounds. The Sodium Chloride dissolved in the distilled water while the Sulfur didn’t. The two
solids were then heated, with the Sodium Chloride not showing any signs of melting and the Sulfur
melting almost immediately. In the last test, the Sodium Chloride was added to alcohol and the Sulfur to
carbon disulfide. Alcohol is a non-polar solvent, because it is much less polar than water. The Sodium
Chloride, after being mixed in the alcohol had no reactions, it didn’t dissolve. The Sulfur however, did
dissolve in the carbon disulfide after being mixed in the solvent.

Conclusion: In conclusion, solid A which is Sodium Chloride, is an ionic substance while solid B which is
Sulfur, is a covalent substance.