Ionic Bonding

Chemistry is a fascinating subject; it is present everywhere around us. Be it the beautiful raindrops on your windowpane, sweet sugars in the fruits or the salt that makes your food tastier. Ever wondered how hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water? Or how sodium and chlorine combine to form the salt? You might get your answers right here.

Basic Concepts in Chemical Bonding

All the chemical compounds are formed due to various combinations of constituent elements. Atoms of the same element or different elements are combined by various chemical bonds in order to keep the molecules together and thus confer stability to the resulting compounds. Chemical bonds are of various types and possess varied strengths. All the elements possess a certain charge, which is expressed in the number of electrons they carry in their orbit. The electro negativity of every element depends on the number of electrons it carries. Hence owing to the fact that different elements have different number of electrons in their orbit, there exists a difference in the charge of every element, which results in an attraction between atoms of various elements. These differentially charged elements then form a bond by donating, accepting or sharing electrons. This is the basic of chemical bonding. The most common types of chemical bonds include:

• Covalent bond
• Ionic Bond

While the sharing of electrons by atoms forms covalent bonds, the transfer or electrons from one atom to another form ionic bonds. Here we will discuss in detail the various aspects of ionic bonding.

What exactly is Ionic Bonding?

Ionic bonding is nothing but a type of chemical bond formation. Ionic bonding is the process of formation of a chemical bond by complete transfer of electrons from one atom to another. When the atoms lose or gain electrons, they become differentially charged ions or oppositely charged ions. The charged ions are then attracted towards each other due to the resulting electrostatic force. The electrostatic force gives rise to the formation of an ionic bond. The most common example of ionic bonding is the formation of sodium chloride in which the sodium atom donates its outer electron to the chlorine atom, which required only one electron to fill its outer shell. The sodium ion becomes positively charged due to the loss of electron whereas the chloride ion becomes negatively charged due to the addition of the electron. The oppositely charged ions thus are attracted to each other and result in the formation of an ionic bond.

Characteristics of Ionic Bonds

Ionic bonds have a prominent effect on several chemical and physical features of the resulting compounds. There exist several prominent characteristics of ionic bonds. Here is a list of some of these characteristics:

• Owing to the fact that metals tend to lose electrons and non-metals tend to gain electrons, ionic bonding is seen between metals and non-metals. Hence unlike covalent bonds, ionic bonds can be formed between metals and non-metals.
• While naming the ionic compounds the name of the metal always comes first and the name of the non-metal comes second. For instance in case of common salt that is chemically named sodium chloride. Sodium is the metal whereas chlorine is the non-metal.
• Compounds which contain ionic bonds dissolve quickly in water as well as several other polar solvents. Ionic bonds thus tend to have an effect on the solubility of the resultant compounds.
• When ionic compounds are dissolved into a solvent to form a homogeneous solution, the solutions tends to conduct electricity.
• Ionic bonding has an effect on the melting point of the compounds as well. Ionic compounds have higher melting temperature, which means that ionic bonds remain stable for a greater temperature range.