Question

Ionic solids are characterized by ______.

Answer 1

Hint:When there is a complete transfer of valence electrons between atoms, then this bonding is known as ionic bonding. Because of the dissociation property, the compound having ionic bonds easily breaks into respective ions. Thus, the ionic bonds are weaker than covalent bonds.

Complete answer:
Ionic solids are the solids that are composed of strong ionic bonds. For a compound to form an ionic bond, there must be a high electronegativity difference between the atoms. According to the Pauling scale of electronegativity, the atoms which have an electronegativity difference greater than will have a tendency to form the ionic bond.
Some major characteristic properties of an ionic solids are as follows:
1) The atoms forming a chemical bond consist of a positive charge and a negative charge respectively due to the electronegativity difference. Therefore, the ionic solids are polar in nature.
2) Ionic solids have high melting and boiling points because of the strong electrostatic forces of attraction acting between the atoms of the compounds.
3) Due to polar nature, ionic solids readily dissolve in a solution and thus are very good electrolytes.
4) The enthalpy of fusion and vaporization are very high for the ionic solids.
5) Because the ionic bonds are polar in nature, dissociate into respective ions in the solution. Hence ionic solids are good conductors in their molten state.
6) In ionic solids, the atoms are tightly packed in the solid phase, therefore ionic solids are good insulators in their solid state.
Hence ionic solids can be characterized by their polar nature and solubility in water.

Note:
Electronegativity: It is the tendency of an atom to attract a pair of electrons towards itself. The values of electronegativity for each atom plays a major role in deciding the nature of bond. If the electronegativity difference is less than , then the bond is pure covalent. If the value lies between and , then the bond is polar covalent and if the values are greater than then the bond is pure ionic bond.