Omar Vazquez 11-5-12 Period 6

Ionic vs. Covalent Bonding Lab Investigation Introduction: Most atoms are never found by themselves; instead they are bonded to other atoms in ionic or covalent bonds. This is because atoms want to have full octets of electrons in the valence shell. In order to accomplish this electrons are either transferred or shared between atoms. The electro negativity is the factor that determines whether electrons are transferred or shared because electro negativity can either be low, which makes electrons easy to remove, or high which makes electrons hard to remove. Based on this information two kinds of bonds can be formed, Covalent and Ionic. In Covalent bonds, only non-metal elements are able to bond to each other. In this process electrons are shared because non-metals elements have high Electro negativity. This means the non-metal elements would not want to give up their atoms because the elements have strong attraction between their positive nucleus and negative electrons. The other kind of bond that can be formed is Ionic bonding. In Ionic bonds metal atoms and non-metal atoms are fused together. This is accomplished by having the metals, which have low Electro negativity, lose all their electrons in the valence shell, and then giving them to the non-metal atoms which have high Electro negativity. The metal atoms become positively charged, which are called cations, because they lose negative charges; while, non-metals atoms become negatively charged, which are called anions, because they gain negative charges. 1

Omar Vazquez 11-5-12 Period 6

Hypotheses: Table 1: the expected results of testing five different chemical substances Compounds to Chemical Hypothesis 1: Hypothesis 2: Hypothesis 3: Will be Tested Formula Ionic or High or Low it conduct Covalent? Melting Point? electricity? Distilled (pure) H20 Covalent Low No Water Sodium Na1Cl Ionic High Only when Chloride dissolved Sucrose C12H22O11 Covalent Low No Dextrose C6H12O6 Covalent Low No Sodium NaSO4 Ionic High Only when sulfate dissolved Procedures: PART I. Melting Point and Strength of Bonds 1. Fold aluminum foil into a square that will neatly fit on the ring-stand. Place a small sample of each of the 4 different compounds (water is already melted) on your square of aluminum foil (all 4 at the same time). Be careful not to mix them up and keep track of them! 2. Carefully place the tray on the ring stand and heat with the Bunsen burner (no longer than 1-2 minutes). 3. Immediately begin recording our detailed observations, keeping track of the order in which the samples melt (or dont melt if thats the case) which ones have strong bonds and which have weak? 4. Allow the square of foil to cool and then wash it off into the sink Part II. Electrical Conductivity 1. Place a sample of each compound in different wells of a well plate. 2. Test the dry compound for conductivity with the tester. Record your observations (Yes or No). 3. Add enough drops of distilled water to the well to dissolve the compound as best as you can.

Omar Vazquez 11-5-12 Period 6 4. Test the solution for conductivity with the tester. Record your observations (Yes or No). 5. Repeat for all the samples. Results:

Table 2: The results of testing five different chemical substances Name/Chemical Part I: Part II: FINAL CONCLUSION: Formula: Melting Point Conducted Ionic or Covalent Bonds? (1-5; High, Electricity? Med, or Low?) (Yes/No) Dry Dissolved 1. Distilled Already N/A No Covalent (pure) Water/ dissolved H2O 2. Sodium 5 No Yes Ionic Chloride/ NaCl 3. Sucrose 2 No No Covalent (sugar)/ C12H22O11 4. Dextrose/ 2 No No Covalent C6H12O6 5. Sodium 5 No Yes Ionic sulfate/ NaSO4

Conclusion: The purpose of this laboratory was to evaluate whether the following elements: H20, NaCl, C12H22O11, C6H12O6, and NaSO4 were Covalent or Ionic bonds. After the laboratory, it was concluded that sodium chloride, and sodium sulfate are ionic compounds, while distilled water, dextrose, and sucrose are covalent compounds. All of the initial hypotheses were right. From the results, the Ionic compounds were those that conducted electricity in water and had high melting points due to the strong bond between the ions. However, the covalent compounds, which are based on the results, never conducted electricity, even when dissolved in distilled water. This is due to nonmetals not allowing their electrons to flow freely because the high Electro negativity between the positive nucleus and the electrons are stronger since on a period of the

Omar Vazquez 11-5-12 Period 6

periodic table non-metals have more protons that metals. Meanwhile, Ionic bonds are crystals, so the ions in the crystal dissociate when in contact with water, which allows electrons to flow freely; in basic terms free flowing electrons means electricity. Additionally Ionic bonds are very strong since Ionic bonds use electrostatic force to create strong attraction between the positive cations, and the negative anions. The ions then create a patterned structure of cations & anions repetition to make the crystal that withstands high melting points and can conduct electricity when dissolved.