CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

So basically, whether a bond is ionic or covalent depends on the difference of the electronegativities of the atoms involved?

Yes, pretty much
If the difference in electronegativities is greater than 2, the bond will be ionic
If the difference in electronegativities is less than 1.5, the bond will be covalent
for elements with difference in electronegativity between 1.5 and 2, the compounds will need to be taken on an individual basis to determine whether they are ionic or covalent

Yes, the textbook says that if the difference between the two elements is about 2, the bond is ionic.

Jacob Puchalski 1G wrote:So basically, whether a bond is ionic or covalent depends on the difference of the electronegativities of the atoms involved?

Pretty much. If electronegativity difference is greater than 1.7 then its ionic but if it's less than 1.7 then it's covalent.

Yes, and also you can look at how far the elements are from each other on the periodic table. If there is a cation in the far left that is bonded with an anion in the far left, this means there is a great electronegativity difference and it is an ionic bond.

if the elements in the compound have an electronegativity difference higher than 2, its considered ionic. if the elements have an electronegativity difference less than 1.5, its considered covalent. we can't really determine it when the difference is between 1.5 and 2

In today's lecture (10/30/19) Lavelle mentioned how Cl has a (-) charge while K is (+) charge. I know its probably really simple but could someone please clarify/remind me how do we determine if an element is +1 or -1. For example, how is Cl becoming into Cl-1 and K becoming K+.