Question

What type of bond forms between lithium and fluorine?

Answer 1

Hint :The type of bond between atoms depends upon the difference in electronegativity of the elements involved. Lithium is an alkali metal and fluorine is a non-metal with high electronegativity. Use the metallic character of the elements to decide on the type of bond.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
The forces of attraction that binds atoms together are known as chemical bonds. When valence electrons, the electrons in an atom's outermost electronic "shell," interact, bonds are formed. The essence of the atoms' interaction is determined by their relative electronegativity.
When the electronegativity difference between covalently bound atoms is greater than the difference between covalently bonded atoms, the pair of atoms normally forms a polar covalent bond. The electrons are still exchanged between the atoms, but their attraction to both elements is not equal. As a consequence, electrons spend the majority of their time near a single atom. Again, polar covalent bonds also occur between nonmetals.
Finally, the bonding interaction is called ionic for atoms with the greatest electronegativity differences (such as metals bonding with nonmetals), and the valence electrons are usually interpreted as being transferred from the metal atom to the nonmetal. Both the metal and the non-metal are called ions after the electrons have been passed to the non-metal. And, ionic compounds are formed when two oppositely charged ions attract each other.
Lithium belongs to the group 2 alkali metal and its electronic configuration is $ 1{s^2}2{s^1} $ . Fluorine is a halogen and so a non-metal with electronic configuration $ 1{s^2}2{s^2}2{p^5} $ . We can easily observe that fluorine needs one electron and lithium will lose one electron to achieve the noble gas stability. And since, lithium is a metal and fluorine is a non-metal, transfer of electrons takes place and an ionic bond is formed between the elements.
Hence, ionic bonds form between lithium and fluorine.

Note :
Note that the metallic character decreases from the left to right of a period. And so, the bonds between atoms from the extreme ends are mostly ionic in nature. Ionic compounds are generally solids, due to the high force of attraction between the atoms. Eventually they usually have high melting and boiling points.