Unit 8: Chemical Bonding- Ionic
The Stability of Noble Gases
● the noble gases are the chemical
elements in group 18 of the periodic
table
● the most stable due to having the
maximum number of valence electrons
● rarely react with other elements
because they are already stable
● they conduct electricity, fluoresce,
odorless, and colorless
● used in many conditions when a stable
element is needed to maintain a safe
and constant environment
● the noble gases are arranged according
to their boiling point
● widely used in different fields from
incandescent lighting to excimer lasers
● Noble Gases: Helium, Neon, Argon,
Krypton, Xenon, and Radon
● previously referred to as inert gases -
not extremely accurate because several
take part in chemical reactions
● only krypton, xenon, and radon have
the ability to form stable compounds
(used as oxidizing agents)
● noble gases have the largest ionization
potential among the elements of each
period
Octet Rule
● by American chemist Gilbert Lewis
● “atoms tend to form compounds in
ways that give them eight valence
electrons and thus the electron
configuration of a noble gas”
● metal atoms tend to lose all their
valence electrons; nonmetal atoms tend
to gain electrons in order to fill their
outermost principal energy level
● Lewis Electron Dot Structure(LEDS)-
used to show a model of the octet rule
● Exceptions in which an atom has only
has two electrons in its valence shell:
○ helium, hydrogen, lithium
● ways in which atoms can satisfy the
octet rule
○ by sharing valence electrons
with other atoms
○ by transferring valence
electrons from one atomto
another
Exceptions to the Octet Rule
1. The Incomplete Octet
● Hydrogen and Lithium
○ many atoms below the atomic
number 20 often form
compounds that do not follow
the octet rule
○ with the duet (two) rule of the
first principal level, Helium only
has two electrons in its outer
level
○ Hydrogen only needs one
additional electron to attain its
stable configuration, through
covalent sharing or becoming
the hydride ion (H-)
○ Lithium needs to lose one
electron by combining ionically
with other elements
● Boron and Aluminum
○ a variety of molecules in which
there are too few electrons to
provide an octet for every atom
○ Boron and aluminum (group III
or 13) display different bonding
behavior- they obey the sextet
rule
Ion
● an atom that has gained or lost one or
more electrons
● cation- atom that has lost a valence
electrons and is positively charged
 ● anion- atom that has gained a valence
electron and is negatively charged
● metal atoms- lose electrons and
become positively charged
● non-metal atoms- gain electrons and
become negatively charged
● polyatomic ions- a group of atoms that
behaves as a unit and carries a net
electrical ion
Charges on Ions
● the number of charges on an ion
formed by a metal is equal to the group
number of the metal
● the number of charges on an ion
formed by a non-metal is equal to the
group number minus eight
“The atom and thre molecule”
● written by American scientist Gilbert N.
Lewis (1916)
● he outlined a number of important
concepts regarding bonding that are still
used today as working models of
electron arrangement at the atomic
level
● Lewis developed a theory about
bonding based on the valence electrons
in an atom
● Lewis suggested that a chemical bond
was formed when two atoms shared a
pair electrons (later renamed a covalent
bond by Irving Langmuir)
Ionic Bonds
● ionic bonding is when electrons are
transferred from one atom to another
● usually happens when a metal atom
bonds with a non-metal atom
● takes place when the difference in
electronegativity is more than 1.7
● the two atoms are attracted to each
other by electrostatic forces
Determining the Formula of an Ionic Compound
● Two conditions must be satisfied:
○ each ion must obey the octet
rule for maximum stability
○ ions will combine in a way that
the overall ionic compound will
be neutral
Writing the Chemical Formula of an Ionic
Compound
● apply the crisscross formula
● write the formula of the cation first,
followed by the formula of the anion
● the formula should indicate the smallest
number of cation and anion units that
should be combined to give an overall
charge of ions
Naming Ionic Compounds
● separate the formula of the cation from
the anion and determine the charge of
each ion
● write the name of the cation first, then
the name of the anion
● add -ide at the end of the anion
Properties of Ionic Compounds
● ionic (electrovalent) compounds
● relate to how strongly the positive and
negative ions attract each other
● Properties exhibited by ionic
compounds:
○ they form crystals
■ Ionic crystals form
crystal lattices rather
than amorphous solids
○ they have high melting and
boiling points
■ a lot of energy is
required to melt ionic
compounds or cause
them to boil
○ they have higher enthalpies of
fusion and vaporization than
molecular compounds
■ enthalpy of fusion- the
heat required to melt a
 single mole of a solid well because the ions
under constant are tightly bound to
pressure each other
■ enthalpy of
vaporization- the heat
required to vaporize a
single mole of a liquid
compound under
constant pressure
■ ionic compounds have
enthalpies of fusion and
vaporization of 10 to
100 times higher than
molecular compounds
○ they’re hard and brittle
■ they’re hard because
the positive and
negative ions are
strongly attracted to
each other and difficult
to separate
■ they’re brittle because
the electrostatic
repulsion can split the
crystal when ionic
compounds are put
under pressure
○ they usually dissolve in water
and are insoluble in oil, petrol,
kerosene, etc
○ they conduct electricity when
dissolved in water
■ ions dissociated in
water are free to
conduct electric charge
through the solution
■ molten ionic
compounds (salts) also
conduct electricity
○ they’re good insulators
■ ionic solids do not
conduct electricity very