Ionic Bonding Practice Quiz

Ionic bonds can be formed when there is a metal and a nonmetal present. This is because metals tend to lose electrons and become positively charged ions, while nonmetals tend to gain electrons and become negatively charged ions. The attraction between these oppositely charged ions leads to the formation of ionic bonds.

Nitrogen is a nonmetal. Nonmetals gain electrons and become negatively charged ions.
Negatively charged ions are called anions.

Mercury (II) gives off 2 electron and Oxygen receives 2. It all balances out and you only need one atom of each. So the formula is HgO.

Mercury is one of the elements that doesn't have only charge, but many different possible charges.
The roman numeral II means 2. If we write Mercury (II), it means Mercury with a charge of +2.
If we don't write the II, no one will know what charge Mercury actually is.
So, we write Mercury (II) Oxide.

Boron gives off 3 electrons and Nitrogen receives 3. It all balances out and you only need one atom of each.
Therefore the formula is BN.

The name is Boron Nitride because the metal comes first, nonmetal comes second, and the nonmetal always ends in -IDE.

All ionic compounds have the metal first, and the nonmetal second. The nonmetal always ends in -IDE.
So Lithium and nitrogen would create Lithium Nitride.

Nitrogen needs 3 electrons, and one atom of Lithium can only give 1 electron.
So, there needs to be three atoms of Lithium to give 3 electrons to one atom of Nitrogen.
So, you put "3" in front of Lithium to say that there has to be 3 Lithium electrons. You don't put anything in front of Nitrogen because there is only 1 atom needed.
So, the formula will be Li3N.

Nickel is one of the elements that doesn't have only charge, but many different possible charges.
The roman numeral II means 2. If we write Nickel (II), it means Nickel with a charge of +2.
If we don't write the II, no one will know what charge Nickel actually is.
So, we write Nickel (II) Chloride.

Nickel gives off two electrons and Chlorine is only able to recieve one.
So, introduce another atom of Chlorine.
One atom of Nickel can give off two electrons and both atoms of Chlorine will recieve one each.
Since there is one atom of Nickel and two of Chlorine, we write NiCl2.

Ionic compounds are brittle because when something hits them, a layer of ions is pushed so that they are next to ions of the same charge. Since ions of the same charge repel each other, this repulsion causes the lattice structure of the ionic compound to break, resulting in brittleness.