Lab 3-2 Properties of Ionic & Covalent Compounds

Ionic compounds have higher melting points that covalent compounds. They conduct more electricity, and they dissolve quickly in water.

Covalent substances have lower melting points, and will not conduct as well as ionic substances.

Metals bond with nonmetals to form ionic bonds. They are formed when a metal and a non metal gain/ lose electrons and create opposite charges, so they are attracted to one another.

Covalent bonds occur when two non metals share electrons to create a full outer electron shell in both.

Covalent compounds lack the ability to conduct electricity as a solid or in solution, because they lack a charge, and the electrons are not free to move around and carry an electric current.

Ionic compounds conduct electricity as a liquid because the ions are free to move around, and carry an electric current.

Enrichment: Electrolytes are ions in a substance that make that substance electrically conductive. Gatorade advertises that their drinks contain electrolytes because electrolytes rehydrate the body. They also help carry signals through the use on electric current. Sodium is the electrolyte used by the body.

Lab 3.1 Modeling Molecules

I think that ionic bonds are stronger than covalent bonds. I believe this because the melting point for an ionic bond is stronger than a covalent bond. This indicates that more energy is required to break down the ionic bond.
When HCl is melted, it is experiencing a physical change. And thus, the compound is not being broken down in to separate Hydrogen and Chlorine atoms, it is simply changing phystical forms.
Melted ionic substances can conduct electricity because the molecules are free to move aroung and the electrons are less condensed. When an ionic substance is a solid state, the molecules are more compacted and do not move as freely as when in a liquid form.
Molecular substances do not conduct electricity because they are composed of only nonmetals, which are not good conductors of electricity.
Enrichment: A polar molecule is a molecule that has different charges at either end. Water molecules are polar because the Hydrogen end is positive, and the Oxygen end is negative. This effects how the molecules are arranged because the the opposite ends attract.

This diagram that I have created shows that the positive ends of the molecules attract to the negative ends of the other molecules, and vise versa.