![]() ![]() Covalent compounds (molecules) do not have metal elements.Ionic compounds have a metal element (1 or more).So how can you tell if a substance is an ionic compound (rock, salt, mineral) or a covalent compound? That is, how to tell if a substance is ionic vs molecular? The really simple test is: And liquid is in between solid and gas, as the gridlock breaks down, the molecules are free to move and flow, but they haven’t yet separated to be a gas. It’s like a big city traffic jam, where all the available roadway is filled with cars. Thus the molecules can separate, unlike the ionic compounds which are locked together by the plus-minus attractions. The reason why molecules can be a gas is because they are neutral and don’t have any plus or minus charge. But the molecules themselves are arranged differently in the 3 states of matter. Each ball always represents one molecule of H2O, an individual package of 3 atoms. A common example is H2O, called ice when it’s solid, water when it’s liquid, and steam when it’s a gas. The diagram below shows how the molecules are arranged in solids (left), liquids (middle), and gasses (right). ![]() The plus-minus attractions for ionic compounds necessarily hold the atoms to touch, like a pile of hopelessly interlocked magnets that you could not pull apart with all your strength.Ĭovalent compounds, or molecules, can be gasses. have the ability for the atoms to separate, thus becoming a gas like shown for molecules.have Lewis structures, which are for molecules only.Unlike covalent compounds like methane above, ionic compounds do NOT: We call this ionic compound NaCl (name: sodium chloride, or table salt) because of the one-to-one ratio of the elements Na and Cl. Ionic compounds, in their usual solid form, always have a repeating pattern of interlocked positive and negative charges like this. But is any particular green sphere associated with any particular purple sphere? No, it’s just a pattern that repeats the same in all directions. It might be obvious that there is one green (negatively charged chlorine) for every purple (positively charged sodium). Note how the atoms alternate green (negatively charged chlorine) and purple (positively charged sodium) in all three directions. First thing, ionic means charged, like plus and minus that attract each other. Now take a look at the diagram for an ionic compound, in solid form. ![]()
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