Question

The chemistry of beryllium is not essentially ionic, True or False?

Answer 1

Hint: Beryllium is a very rare element which belongs to the 2nd group with atomic number 4. Beryllium is a s-block element. We can justify the given statement by referring to the nature of Beryllium oxides and Beryllium chlorides.

Complete step-by-step answer:We are given to state whether the statement “The chemistry of beryllium is not essentially ionic” is true or false.
Beryllium is a s-block element with atomic number 4.
It has very less ionic radius which further results in having high polarizing power. Beryllium has high polarizing power compared to the other elements of its group.
For this reason, Beryllium compounds are not ionic in nature. We know that generally ionic compounds are soluble in water but Beryllium compounds sparingly soluble in water which makes it covalent in nature.
Beryllium oxides react with both acids and bases; therefore Beryllium oxides are amphoteric in nature.
The remaining oxides of 2nd group react only with acids thus they are more ionic.
Beryllium chlorides and fluorides are covalent in nature and do not conduct electricity generally.

Therefore, the given statement “The chemistry of beryllium is not essentially ionic” is true.

Note:Ionic oxides or compounds react with acids and form bases such as Sodium oxide react with hydrochloric acid to form Sodium chloride and generate electricity. But Beryllium does not generate electricity. Do not confuse ionic nature with covalent, in ionic compounds one atom is positively charged and other is negatively charged and formed by transfer of electrons whereas in covalent compounds both atoms must be nonmetals and compounds are formed by sharing of electrons between them.