Prioritizing Polarizing Power of Polarizabilty

[Jeffrey Doeve 2I]

I was wondering how to determine whether Li2O or MgS has more covalent character because S is larger and more polarizable while Li has more polarizing power than Mg.

[Carolina 3E]

It may be easier to approach this problem by comparing electronegativities where the smaller the difference the greater the covalent character. If the difference of electronegativities is high, that means that electrons are more likely to be attracted to the more electronegative atom and display characteristics of an ionic bond where electrons are donated. If the difference of electronegativities is lower, there is more covalent character where electrons are "shared."

[Mahika More 1H]

I agree just try to look at electronegativity. The larger the difference the more ionic the character of the bond.

[Tatyana Bonnet 2H]

Looking at the electronegativities helps as lower the difference the more covalent. However you can also look at the size, since S is the bigger than O it would create more covalent character as its distorted easier, and between the MgS and CaS options, Mg is closer to S incorporating the lower EN difference also making it have more covalent character. Both ways can help find the answer however for this problem looking at the EN difference would be easier to see.