18: Ionic Bonding 2

How can we work out the chemical formula of an ionic compound?

See textbook page 73
Last lesson we used the atom models to make the following ionic compounds: lithium
fluoride, magnesium oxide and aluminium nitride. In each case, the number of electrons
the metal wanted to give away was equal to the number of electrons the non-metal wanted
to receive. This means the chemical formula of the three compounds was LiF, MgO and
AlN, respectively.

BUT, sometimes the number of electrons is not equal. Take the example: magnesium
chloride. Draw the electron arrangements for the atoms on a copy of the table below.
Magnesium atom Chlorine atom

How many electrons does magnesium want to give away? _____

How many electrons does chlorine want to gain? _____

This means that for every one magnesium atom (losing two electrons), we need two
chlorine atoms (each gaining one electron.) Show the electrons moving from the
magnesium atom to the chlorine atoms on a copy of the table below.
Magnesium ion Chlorine ions

Steps
1. Draw out the electron a of both atoms (you can just draw the outer shell)
2. Decide how many electrons each atom needs to gain or lose to have a completely
full or empty outer shell.
3. Transfer electrons from the metal to the non-metal until each outer shell is
completely full or empty. Note you may need to draw more atoms of one or more of
the elements, for example the formula of aluminium sulfide is Al 2S3, so you would
need to draw 2 aluminium atoms and 3 sulfurs.
4. Write down the charge of each ion underneath it. Remember each electron has a
negative charge.
5. Write down the formula of the compound formed.
Must do:

1. For EACH of the compounds below in blue, copy out the table below into your
notebook/on paper and fill it in. Just draw the outer shell for each atom, show iron
with 3 outer electrons and copper with 2 outer electrons.
Name of compound:

Atom electron arrangements: Ion electron arrangements:

Charge on cation (positive ion): Overall chemical formula of compound:

Charge on anion (negative ion):

Compounds:
a. sodium chloride, b. beryllium sulfide, c. aluminium nitride, d. sodium oxide,
e. aluminium fluoride, f. iron(III) chloride, g. copper(II) oxide, h. potassium sulfide,
i. calcium nitride, j. aluminium oxide.

Should Do:

2. What is the chemical formula of the following ionic compounds?

a. lithium fluoride, e. silver (I) bromide,

b. magnesium nitride, f. zinc (II) oxide
c. sodium sulfide g. aluminium fluoride,
d. nickel (IV) chloride, h. lithium nitride.

Aspire to Do:

Polyatomic ions have overall charges across several atoms.

The sulfate ion is SO42-
The nitrate ion is NO3-
The hydroxide ion is OH-

Using this information, determine the chemical formula of the following ionic compounds.

a. lithium nitrate, b. magnesium hydroxide, c. sodium sulfate, d. nickel (IV) sulfate,

e. silver (I) nitrate, f. zinc (II) hydroxide g. aluminium nitrate, h. lithium sulfate,
i. Aluminium sulfate.