Polarization

[204929947]

So, Dr.Lavelle said that an element is highly polarizable if the electrons are highly distorted, does this make the ionic bond more or less with a covalent character? I remember him mentioning something about ionic bonds with covalent character... can someone explain how ionic and covalent bonds are related.

[Nimrat Brar 1E]

I also had a similar question and am just slightly confused over the concept of an ionic bond with a covalent character so if someone could explain that, it would be very helpful!

[fara valdez]

I'm not that sure either, but I hope this helps!
https://www.askiitians.com/iit-jee-chem ... character/

[Alicia Beebe]

What I understood was that an element with higher electronegativity pulls the shared electron unequally. Highly distorted electrons are highly polarizable, which results in more covalent character. More covalent character also comes from ions causing distortion having high polarizing character. What I understood about the relationship is that all ionic bonds have SOME covalent character. The example from class was that in NaCl the Na+ exerts attraction on the electrons surrounding Cl-, which is an example of some covalent character. The larger the difference in electronegativity, the less covalent the character because one will pull on the electrons much more than the other, and they will be shared less and less. Hope this helps!

[Vivian Gonzalez 1A]

I also had a similar question and Alicia your response really cleared things up on covalent character. Thank you

[Isobel Tweedt 1E]

I'm still confused too, but it helps to see how covalently bonded atoms can become ionicly bonded cations or anions. Here's a helpful website:

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Coval ... onic_Bonds

[Nicole Shak 1L]

3.81 Arrange the cations Rb+, Be2+, and Sr2+ in order of increasing polarizing power. Give an explanation of your arrangement.
3.83 Arrange the anions Cl-, Br-, N3-, and O2- in order of increasing polarizability and give reasons for your decisions.

So for this problem, can you say that polarizing power is greater with smaller cations and larger anions?

[Allen Chen 1J]

I believe, the larger a cation/anion is the more polarizable it is, and the less polarizing power it has