[incubusfan]

hi.. quick question: how can you determine whether or not a compound is ionic or covalent?

i need this info to find out whether or not a compound with dissassociate in solution. for example, i know glucose will not break apart, therefore it is covalent, while NaCl will break apart, making it ionic.

some simple examples of stuff i dont know:
- SO4
- N2O
- CaCl2
- diethyl ether
- ethanol
- tubenen
- LiF

so whats the general rule to know whether a compound is ionic or covalent? thanks!

[war485]

Yo! 

Generally, stuff that are diatomic, ex. chlorine and hydrogen gas, are covalent.  Anything that will share electrons are covalent (draw the Lewis diagrams, it helps)

Ionic stuff are generally stuff from Group 1 and Group 7 (far left and far right) of the elements in the periodic table.  Generally, ionic compounds are solids.  Ex. NaCl, KCl, CaO.  Hopefully that helps!

[war485]

Forgot one more thing, generally, but not always, ionic compounds disassociate in water to form a solution and generally, covalent compounds won't. There was also a general rule about the electronegativity that is used for determining if it is ionic or covalent.  Anywho, hope it helps.

[Yggdrasil]

As a general rule, compounds with a metal and non-metal (e.g. NaCl, Fe₂O₃, CaCl₂ will be ionic, while compounds containing only non-metals (e.g. Cl₂, CH₄, C₆H₁₂O₆) are covalent.  However, there are plenty of exceptions to this rule.

[incubusfan]

thanks! that clears things up a lot!!