How to easily tell between Ionic and Covalent bonds?

[Daniel Rivas 3L]

When I was in high school, one easy way I learned to easily tell if a compound was ionic or covalent was the placements of the elements on the periodic table. For example if the elements were far apart from each other like sodium and chlorine, then they form the ionic compound sodium chloride. And if they were close together like Carbon and Oxygen, then they formed the covalent bond carbon Dioxide. Will that still generally hold true in this class?

[Shawn Patel 1I]

Hey,
Yes, the method you use is a simple way to figure out if a bond is ionic or not. This trend is because ionic bonds form when there is a nonmetal and a metal reacting, and both of these are usually on opposite sides of the periodic table. Covalent bonds form between nonmetallic elements, which are all located on one side.

[Yuting Zhu 3D]

This is a general way. However, the most accurate way to determine whether the bond is covalent or ionic is to check the electronegativity difference.If the difference is less than 1.5, it is covalent, and if it is larger than 2, it is ionic. Hope this helps!

[204918982]

I learned this method in high school too and I think it will work in this class, but it might be better to calculate the electronegativity difference.

[Wayland Leung]

Will the values of electronegativity be given to us if we are asked to compare which elements are more electronegative or which are ionic and covalent bonds?

[Vincent Kim 2I]

I really doubt he expects us to memorize all values of electronegativity, so they'll probably be given to us.

[Elika Asis 3C]

The electronegativity values will most likely be given to us, but it will probably be helpful to memorize that from 0.0 - 0.2, the bond is considered non-polar covalent. When it is 0.3 - 1.4, it is polar covalent, and lastly, when it is greater than 1.5, it is ionic.

Hope that helps!!

[Chem_Mod]

You likely will not be given a table of values of electronegativities as you should infer the relationship between atoms based on periodic trends, and from those it should be fairly obvious.

[Nehal Banik]

Non-metals bonding with non-metals tend for form covalent bonds because the electrons themselves are being shared between both atoms. An ionic bond occurs between a metal and a nonmetal where the electrons are transferred from one electron to the other.