Greater Ionic Character? [ENDORSED]

[Emma Randolph 1J]

How do you know which compound has a greater ionic character or not? For example on the homework 2d.5, it's asking which has a greater ionic character HCl or HI but I'm not sure how to tell.

[Krista Mercado 1B]

You can determine this by looking at the difference in the electronegativity of the atoms involved in the bond. The bond with a greater difference in electronegativity has a greater ionic character.

[Noh_Jasmine_1J]

usually the distance between the 2 atoms will be useful. if they are further apart that means they will have greater ionic character because the electronegativity is greater

[Andonios Karas 4H]

And if you need a reference for the electronegativity of each atom that the book is basing its solutions off of, look at figure 2D.2 in the 7th edition.

Going by what Krista pointed out, we can see whether that HCl (difference in electronegativity is 0.96) has more ionic character than HI (difference in electronegativity of 0.46).