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Chemical Bonding: Properties of Compounds

In the previous module, you have learned how the development of atomic models like the Quantum Mechanical
Model of the atom lead to the description of the behavior of electrons within atoms. In this module, you will focus
on how the different types of compounds (ionic or covalent) can be recognized based on their properties such as
melting point, hardness, polarity, and electrical and thermal conductivity. Here are some key questions for you to
ponder after finishing this module:
1. How will you identify and describe ionic and covalent compound based on their chemical formula and chemical
name?
2. What are the different physical properties of ionic and covalent compounds?
3. How will you distinguish ionic from covalent compound based on their physical properties?
4. What are the different natural phenomena that uses different properties of ionic and covalent compound?

What’s In
The modern periodic table organizes elements in such a way that information about the elements and their
properties are easier to understand and remember. For example, the vertical column of the periodic table is called
group, elements in the same group share common properties. Classify the elements from the box below according to
the group where they belong to complete the list of representative elements. Use the chemical symbol of the
element in answering. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Lead Helium Barium Boron Oxygen

Aluminum Argon Chlorine Potassium
Radon Nitrogen Magnesium Sodium
Hydrogen Phosphorous

What’s New
Getting to Know Chemical Compounds
Most elements bond with other elements to form chemical compounds. The table below shows the list of commonly
used chemical compounds. Identify the name of elements included in the given compound and determine whether
the elements are metal or non-metal. Answer for number 1 item is provided as an example. Write your answer on a
separate sheet of paper.
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What is It
Let’s Bond with Ionic and Covalent Compounds
Compounds play a big part in our everyday life, like for example, you can find compounds present in food, air,
cleaning chemicals, and literally in every object that you can see or touch. Compounds are made up of elements that
are chemically bonded by electrostatic forces. Compounds can be classified as ionic or covalent. An ionic compound
is formed when metal (cation) transfers its valence electron/s to a nonmetal (anion). The covalent compound is
formed when nonmetals share their valence electrons with another nonmetal. The figure below shows an illustration
on how each element transfer or share their valence electrons to attain stability.

Identifying and Describing Compounds through its Chemical Formula and Chemical Name

Ionic and covalent compounds can be identified and described through their chemical formula and name by
observing the types of elements involved in a compound. In chemistry, the chemical formula is a symbolic expression
signifying the number of atoms present in a molecular substance. We determine the type of atom by referring to its
chemical symbol. The number of atoms is determined by the subscript attached to the symbol. On the other hand,
chemical name shows the name of each element involved in a compound. For example, carbon dioxide, the chemical
formula is written as C𝑂2. This means that this is an example of a covalent compound, since the elements involved
are nonmetals, namely, one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. Moreover, sodium chloride, which chemical
formula is written as NaCl is an example of an ionic compound. Since the elements involved in a compound are
sodium (Na) a metal and chlorine (Cl) a nonmetal. Take a look at your answer in the table of compounds in the
“What’s New” part of this module. Which among the given compounds do you think can be classified as ionic and
covalent compounds based on their chemical formula and name?

Mara is preparing a lunch for her family. While gathering all the ingredients
for her recipe, she is a bit confused between the two identical canisters.
One canister contains salt (NaCl) and the other contains sugar ( ). Both
contents are white powder solid in appearance at room temperature.
Without tasting the sample compounds in the canister, how do you know if a
compound is salt (ionic) or sugar (covalent)?

Understanding the Different Properties of Compounds

Ionic and covalent compounds have different physical properties that will help distinguish them.

1. At normal atmospheric pressure and temperature, covalent compounds may exist in solid, liquid, or a gas, while
ionic compounds exist only as crystalline solids.

The reason for this is, in covalent compounds, electrons are shared and no full ionic charges are formed, which
makes; the molecules in this compound not strongly attracted to one another compared to ionic compounds. Thus,
covalent molecules move freely and tend to exist as liquid or gas at room temperature like alcohol, which is widely
used as a disinfectant, fuel, and as a main component of alcoholic beverages. Most ionic compounds do not actually
exist as molecules; instead, the ions are arranged in an alternating positive and negative ion bonded together in a
matrix. As a result, the ions are held rigidly together in their crystal lattice structure, and that is why they are solid
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under normal atmospheric pressure and temperature, like for example sodium chloride (NaCl), which is commonly
used for flavoring and preserving foods.

2. Ionic compounds generally have higher melting and boiling points while covalent compounds have lower melting
and boiling points.
Ionic compounds have high melting and boiling point because it takes a lot of thermal energy for ions (charged
atoms) in the crystal to separate them apart from each other. On the other hand, covalent compounds have low
melting and boiling point because of the weak force of attraction between molecules. As a result, a small amount of
thermal energy can separate them.

3. Ionic compounds are hard and brittle, while covalent

compounds are soft and flexible.
Crystal lattices are among the factors that affect the hardness
and brittleness of compounds. This refers to the symmetrical
three- dimensional arrangement of atoms inside a crystal. The
crystal lattices of ionic compounds are hard and not easily
scratched, however, it is brittle, which can lead changes to its
shape or size. In contrast, covalent compounds have
molecules that are weakly attracted to each other and are
easily displaced.

4. Ionic compounds have high polarity, while covalent compounds have low polarity.

Polarity, in a compound, results in the distribution of electrical charge over the atoms joined by a chemical bond. In a
chemical bond, polarity arises from the relative electronegativities of the elements. Electronegativity refers to the
ability of an atom to attract electrons toward itself in a chemical bond. To determine the polarity of compounds, we
simply determine the electronegativity difference (EN) of a compound by subtracting the electronegativity value of
the elements involved in a compound. If the difference in EN values between the metallic element and non-metallic
elements is greater than 1.9 the compound is considered as ionic in character. Covalent compound may result in
polar or nonpolar bond. Polar covalent bond results when the EN difference of two non-metallic elements is equal to
0.5 and lower than 1.9. On the other
hand, nonpolar covalent bond results
when the EN difference of nonmetallic
elements is lower than 0.5. Two
identical non-metallic elements
(diatomic molecules) always produce
nonpolar covalent bond like nitrogen
gas (𝑁2), oxygen gas (𝑂2), and
hydrogen gas (𝐻2).

5. Ionic compounds are usually soluble in water, while covalent compounds tend to be less soluble in water.
Solubility is the ability of a substance that may exist in solid, liquid, or gas form, referred to as the solute, to dissolve
in solvent. Many ionic compounds are highly soluble in water because water molecules, a polar solvent attract each
of the ions of an ionic compound and pull the ions away from one another. However, ionic compounds are less
soluble in solvents that contain a common ion. On the other hand, some covalent compounds are not soluble in
water: they do not dissolve well in water. Compounds that have similar properties (particularly polarity), tend to
dissolve in each other. This concept is often expressed as “Like dissolves like” but for substances with unlike
polarities, like water and oil, where water is polar and oil is nonpolar, these two substances are insoluble with each
other.
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Activity 1: Out with the Old, In with the New

Study the figures below that illustrate how ionic and covalent compound are formed and answer the guide questions
that follow. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

What’s More

Guide Questions:
1. What are the types of elements
involved in the formation of the
sodium chloride (NaCl) and water
(𝐻2O)?
2. How do sodium chloride (NaCl) and
water (𝐻2O) form?
3. What leads to the transfer or sharing
of valence electron between elements
in a compound?
4. What type of compound is sodium
chloride (NaCl) and water (𝐻2O)?
5. How will you identify and describe
ionic and covalent compounds based
on how they are formed?

Activity 2: Know My Identity through My Chemical Formula

Study the list of compounds and its chemical formula below. Complete the table by identifying the correct chemical
formula and classifying the type of compound for each item. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Guide Question:
● How will you describe and
identify ionic and covalent
compounds based on their
chemical name and formula?
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Activity 3: Who Got the Power?

Study the four experimental set-ups below testing the electrical conductivity of salt and sugar. Record your
observation on the table. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Guide Questions:
1. Which among the
sample materials
conduct electricity when
dissolved in water?
2. Explain why salt can
conduct electricity when
dissolved in water but
not in its solid state.
3. Why does sugar cannot
conduct electricity in
both solid and in a
solution?
4. What type of
compounds are sugar
and salt? 5. What type of
compound can conduct
electricity?

Activity 4: Investigating Ionic and Covalent Profile Imagine yourself as a young Filipino chemist in a laboratory. One of
your assistants conducted a series of experiments using the different compounds as samples. Inefficiently, your
assistant labelled the samples using uppercase letters without having a list of the compound’s names assigned to
each other. Use the data given in Table No.1 to identify the given samples. Complete Table No.2 to show the
chemical name and classification of the samples. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Table 1: Different Properties of the Samples

Table 2: Chemical name and classification of compounds.

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Guide Questions:
1. What type of compound has high melting point? Why?
2. What type of compound is generally insoluble in water? Why?
3. How do you determine the type of compound based on their melting point, boiling point, and solubility?
Activity 5: Checking Ionic and Covalent Polarity
Find the electronegativity difference of the following pair of elements and identify whether the pair of elements are
likely to form an ionic or covalent (polar/nonpolar) compounds. Write your answers on a separate answer sheet.

Guide Questions:
1. Why do we use
electronegativity to
determine bond
polarity?
2. What kind of
elements usually form
nonpolar covalent
compounds?
3. What is the
electronegativity
difference of given pair
of elements in a
nonpolar covalent
compound?
4. How can you
determine if a pair of
elements will result in
an ionic compound
based on type of
elements and electronegativity difference?
5. How can you determine if a pair of elements will result in a polar covalent compound based on type of elements
and electronegativity difference?

Activity 6: Let’s Wrap it Up the Properties of Compounds

Complete the table below to compare the physical properties of ionic from covalent compounds. Check the columns
that correctly correspond to its physical properties. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Guide Questions:
1. How do we identify the different types of
compounds?
2. How can knowledge on the different
properties of compounds be useful in our
daily life?
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Name _____________________________________________ Grade and Section ______________________

Date ______________________ Score ______________________

Activity 6 – LEWIS DOT STRUCTURE

Fill in the table with the valence electrons of each atom and the Lewis dot structure for each molecule, element, or
compound.

# Compound Valence Electrons (involved elements) Lewis Dot Structure

1 Sodium Chloride
(NaCl)
2 Magnesium Oxide
(MgO)
3 Fluorine (F₂)

4 Potassium Chloride
(KCl)
5 Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂)

6 Calcium Chloride
(CaCl₂)
7 Lithium Fluoride (LiF)

8 Phosphorus
Trichloride (PCl₃)
9 Hydrogen Sulfide
(H₂S)