Verin Kaur Giovanni

Learning Objectives
(a) Explain the rationale for formation of ions. Draw structures of ions. State that metals lose electrons to form positive ions while non-metals gain electrons to form negative ions. (b) Describe the formation of ionic bonds between metals and non-metals. (c) To be able to write the formula and name for binary compounds (NaCl, CaCO 3 etc). (d) To be able to represent ionic bonding through dot-and-cross diagrams.

Let Us Recall How are the electrons arranged in an atom? Electrons are arranged in electron shells, the first electron shell holds a maximum of 2 electrons, second and third electron shell holds 8 electrons. Why do atoms form ions by losing or gaining electrons? To attain noble gas configuration / completely filled electron shells. Which atoms tend to gain electrons? Which atoms tend to lose electrons? Non-metal atoms tend to gain electrons, metal atoms tend to lose electrons.

Other than Group 0 elements, atoms of other elements do not exist as monatomic elements. The atoms will combine by losing, gaining or sharing electrons and form compounds. Why? Stable Noble Gas Configuration What is so special about the Group 0 elements ?

Atoms in Group 0 are stable, as it has completely filled electron shells / noble gas configuration (a duplet or octet electronic structure).

Atoms of the other elements can lose or gain electrons to achieve this electronic configuration.

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Atoms of Metals (left side of the Periodic Table)

Atoms of metals (left side of the Periodic Table) tend to lose electrons, to form positively charged ions (cations). The size of the charge (oxidation state) depends on the number of electrons they lose. Symbol of selected positive ions Li+ Na+ Mg
2+

Symbol of selected atoms

Li Na Mg Ca

lithium atom sodium atom magnesium atom calcium atom

loses 1 electron loses 1 electron loses 2 electrons loses 2 electrons

lithium ion sodium ion magnesium ion calcium ion

Ca2+

Atoms on the right side of the Periodic Table Atoms of non-metals (right side of the Periodic Table) tend to gain electrons, to form negatively charged ions (anions). The size of the charge (oxidation state) depends on the number of electrons they lose.

Note that the ending of the name of the non-metal is changed to -ide when it forms an ion.

Verin Kaur Giovanni

Symbol of selected atom

Symbol of selected negative ions O2S2FCl

-

O S F Cl Br

oxygen atom sulfur atom fluorine atom chlorine atom bromine atom

gains 2 electron gains 2 electron gains 1 electron gains 1 electron gains 1 electron

oxide ion sulfide ion fluoride ion chloride ion bromide ion

Br -

But where do the atoms gain the electrons from? Where do the atoms lose the electrons to?

Ionic Bond Electron Transfer Ionic compounds are formed when metal atoms transfer/lose electrons to nonmetal atoms to form metal ions (positively charged ions) and non-metal ions(negatively charged ions) respectively. The electrostatic forces of attraction between the positive and negative ions is called an ionic bond.

Verin Kaur Giovanni

The following examples use dot-and-cross diagrams to represent the formation of an ionic bond. You will learn how to draw these dot-and-cross diagrams later.

Example 1: Formation of sodium chloride

sodium atom

chlorine atom

sodium chloride
This is the electron transferred from sodium atom to chlorine atom.

Example 2: Formation of magnesium chloride

magnesium atom

chlorine atom

magnesium chloride