Ionic Compounds (Oxford AQA IGCSE Chemistry)

Ionic Compounds

• The lattices formed by ionic compounds consist of a regular arrangement of alternating positive and negative ions in which the ions are tightly packed together

• Strong electrostatic forces of attraction are present between oppositely charged ions, holding the lattice together

• Electrostatic forces are strong, acting in all directions - they form the basis of ionic bonding

The lattice structure of sodium chloride

• The lattice arrangement exists in three dimensions which allows solid ionic compounds to form regular shapes

• Solid ionic crystals contain huge numbers of ions and so are referred to as giant ionic lattices

• Ions are incredibly small - a single grain of sodium chloride contains trillions of sodium and chloride ions - so models are used to represent the structure of the ionic compound

A 3D space-filling model showing an ionic lattice structure