Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J.

Borg

LO3: Substances from the Earth – Aquatic Environments

Ionic Bonding

Ionic bonding occurs between a _________________ and a ____________________. In this

type of bonding, electrons are transferred from the metal atoms to the non-metal atoms.
____________ are formed by loss or gain of electrons. Each ion has a full outer electron
shell and so gains stability. The resulting compound is called an _____________ compound.

When a piece of sodium metal is heated and placed in a flask of chlorine gas, it burns with a
bright flame. The result is a white solid which has to be scrapped from the sides of the flask.
Therefore, sodium reacts with chlorine to form ___________________________________.

What happens when atoms chemically combine together?

A sodium atom has _______ electrons, split up into 3 shells as _____________. With 1
electron in its outer shell:

• How can sodium attain a full outer shell? Would it be easier for Na to lose just 1 electron
or to gain 7 electrons? __________________________________________________

Chlorine has _______ electrons, split up into 3 shells as _____________. With 7 electrons in
its outer shell:

• How can chlorine get a full outer shell? Would it be easier for Cl to lose 7 electrons or to
gain 1 electron? _______________________________________________________

Na Cl

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

When sodium reacts it ______________ its outer 1 electron and this leaves a full shell.
Chlorine _______________ the electron from sodium and it _____________ that 1 electron
it needs to attain noble gas electronic configuration. After sodium has given an electron to
chlorine, the electrons and protons no longer balance. Now let’s add up the charges:

Sodium: 11 protons (+) and 10 electrons (-); Total charge of +1.

Chlorine: 17 protons (+) and 18 electrons (-); Total charge of -1.

The atoms become ions, because they are charged. ________ ions and ________ ions are
formed.

Remember: An ion is a charged particle as it consists of an unequal number of

protons and electrons.

Ionic compounds carry no charge; therefore the positive and negative ions have to
be balanced.

The following dot-cross diagrams explain the bonding (before and after) between sodium
and chlorine. There is a strong electrostatic force of attraction between these oppositely
charged ions, i.e. Na+ ions and Cl- ions. This is called an ___________________ bond.

Before bonding

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

After bonding

So, the chemical formula of sodium chloride is _____________.

Since only the outer electrons are important in ionic bonding, can you draw a simplified
diagram showing only the outer electron shells? Use the mini whiteboard provided.

Constructing the chemical formula of magnesium fluoride using valency

Magnesium is in Group 2. Thus it has a valency of 2 since it needs to give up 2 electrons to

become stable. Fluorine is in Group 7. Therefore, it has a valency of 1 since it needs to gain
1 electron to become stable.

As such when these two types of atoms meet the following takes place:

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

• A magnesium atom gives an electron each to two fluorine atoms.

• Thus one magnesium atom makes two fluorine atoms ‘happy’:

Mg (aq) - 2e- → Mg2+ | 2 fluorine atoms + 2e- → 2F-

Two + ve cancel two - ve.

So, the ratio of ions shall be of 1 Mg++ : 2 F-
Therefore, the chemical formula is MgF2

Other reactions between metals and non-metals include:

• magnesium + chlorine → _______________________________

• lithium + oxygen → ________________________________
• ___________________ + bromine → calcium bromide
• sodium + ___________________ → sodium iodide

Draw dot-cross diagrams (showing all shells) for the bonding between sodium and oxygen
(before and after bonding). Write the chemical name and formula of the compound.

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

The ionic lattice (giant ionic structure)

The oppositely charged ions are arranged in a regular way to form a giant
ionic lattice. It is a lattice because the arrangement is a regular one, and
‘giant’ since the arrangement is repeated many times with a large number of
ions. As a result of this, ionic compounds often form crystals. The diagram
shows part of a sodium chloride ionic lattice.

The diagram below represents a 3D ball and stick model for the ionic lattice in NaCl.

Note that in a three-dimension

(3D) structure of sodium chloride,
every sodium ion is surrounded by
six chloride ions.

Properties of ionic compounds

The forces of attraction between the oppositely charged ions are high, therefore the bonds
formed are very strong. This fact allows ionic compounds to show the following properties:

1. Ionic compounds have high melting points and boiling points.

E.g., sodium chloride (NaCl) has a melting point of 801oC and a boiling point of 1413oC.
Magnesium oxide (MgO) has a melting point of 2852oC and a boiling point of 3600oC. Ionic
bonds between Mg2+ and O2- ions are stronger than those between Na+ and Cl- ions.

2. Ionic compounds are usually soluble in water.

The water molecules attract the ions away from the lattice. The ions can now move freely
surrounded by water molecules.

3. Ionic compounds can conduct electricity when they are molten/in solution.

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

A solid ionic compound will not conduct electricity. When

molten (melted into a liquid), the lattice breaks up and the
ions are free to move. Since they are charged, this means that
they can conduct electricity. The ions also move freely when
the compound is dissolved in water. Therefore, the aqueous
solution of an ionic compound will also conduct electricity.

Chemical formulae

Ions of the first twenty elements

Not every element forms ions during reactions. Some ions are given in this table with their
names.

• Metals form ___________________ ions, which have the same names as the atoms.
These are called ___________________.
• Group 1 metal ions have a charge of _______, similarly Group 2 metal ions have a
charge of _______ and Group 3 metal ions have a charge of ________.
• Hydrogen also forms a positive ion which is the ________ ion.
• The non-metals form __________________ ions and their names end in -ide. These
are the __________________.
• Group 6 non-metal ions have a charge of _______, similarly Group 7 non-metal ions
have a charge of _______.

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

• Elements in Groups 4 and 7 do not usually form ions because if their atoms would
gain or lose many electrons, that would require too much energy.
• Elements in Group 8/0 (noble gases) do not form ions since their atoms already have
a ___________________________________.

Writing formulae of ionic compounds

Remember: An ionic compound must have no overall charge, so the ions must balance so
that the positive and negative charges add up to zero.

Group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0
Charge +1 +2 +3 / -3 -2 -1 0
Valency 1 2 3 / 3 2 1 0

Exercise 1: Complete the table below by writing the chemical formula of the given

compounds.

Chemical name Ions formed Chemical formula

Sodium oxide
Barium chloride
Lithium sulfide
Magnesium bromide
Sodium iodide
Aluminium fluoride
Sodium sulfide
Magnesium oxide

Transition metal ions

The elements found in the middle section of the Periodic Table are called transition metals.
Some transition metals form only one type of ion:

➢ Silver forms only Ag+ ions

➢ Zinc forms only Zn2+ ions.

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

Most transition elements can have more than one valency. The Roman number shows the
valency state of the element. For example:

Transition metal ion Valency Cation formed

Iron(II)
Iron(III)
Copper(II)
Copper(I)

Examples of compounds: copper(I) oxide = Cu2O, copper(II) oxide = CuO; iron(II) oxide =
FeO, iron(III) oxide = Fe2O3;

Lead is in Group 4 and can form two ions:

➢ Pb2+ lead(II) ion - lead(II) oxide = PbO

➢ Pb4+ lead(IV) ion - lead(IV) oxide = PbO2

Polyatomic ions

All the ions have been formed from single atoms so far. However, ions can
also be formed from groups of joined atoms. These are called polyatomic
ions. The most common ones are given in the table below. Remember that
each species is a particular ion, even though it contains more than one atom.

Polyatomic ions

Ammonium NH4+

Carbonate CO32-

Hydrogencarbonate HCO3-

Hydrogen sulfate HSO4-

Hydroxide OH-

Nitrate / nitrate(V) NO3-

Nitrite / nitrate(III) NO2-

Phosphate PO43-

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Year 9 Chemistry Extra Notes/CW/HW Mr J. Borg

Sulfate / sulfate(VI) SO42-

Sulfite / sulfate(IV) SO32-

Exercise 2: Write the chemical formula of the following compounds.

Chemical name Ions formed Chemical formula

Aluminium chloride
Silver nitrate
Potassium hydroxide
Iron(II) sulfide
Sodium sulfate
Copper(I) chloride
Sodium hydrogencarbonate
Potassium sulfite
Lithium bromide
Zinc oxide
Magnesium nitrite
Calcium carbonate
Sodium fluoride
Beryllium oxide
Magnesium nitrate
Calcium hydroxide
Sodium sulfide
Sulfuric acid / Sulfuric(VI) acid
Nitric acid / Nitric(V) acid