Question

How do you determine if a substance is an ionic compound?

Answer 1

Hint To solve this question, first we have to understand the term ionic compound. Compounds are the combination of two or more atoms which are chemically bonded together.

Complete step by step solution:
The ionic compounds have different properties than that of covalent or metallic compounds. we can determine whether the substance is ionic or not on the basis of these properties.
Ionic compounds have a high melting point and they are also soluble in water. The electrical properties of ionic compounds are also different from the covalent compounds. ionic compounds act as a conductor even in the melted and in dissolved form whereas the covalent molecules act as an insulator. Ionic compounds are brittle.
It means that if we take a substance and put it in a test tube and it melts easily, it means that the substance is a covalent compound not an ionic compound as the melting point of ionic compounds is very high.

Additional information:
While writing the formula of an ionic compound we should take care and maintain the charge. For example, if we write the chemical formula for sodium phosphide.
The chemical symbol for sodium is Na and the chemical symbol for phosphorus is P. sodium phosphide is an ionic compound and the ionic compounds are neutral. This means that the sum of charges on each element must be zero.
The charge on sodium ion=$ N{{a}^{+}}$
The charge on phosphide ion =$ {{P}^{3-}}$
To neutralise this charge 3 sodium ions are required. Hence, the symbol of sodium phosphide is $ N{{a}_{3}}P$ .

Note: Sometimes a 3-letter symbol is also assigned to a new element which is a temporary symbol for the element. For example: the chemical symbol for unniloctium was Uno which was later changed to Hs after the discovery of hassium.