By: The_Doc_

The_Doc_ — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:46:05 +0000

Not always easy to do so.
In general, if you have something from the far left of the periodic table paired up with something from the far right of the table, they are, more often than not, ionic. But then there’s Calcium Fluoride which SHOULD be ionic – but isn’t. Has to do with atomic sizes.
If there is a lot of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen involved, you are looking at organics, which are usually covalent.
If you have H2SO4, that’s sufuric acid – where the SO4 part involves covalent bonds between sulfur and oxygen. Taken as SO4(-2), the hydrogen attaches to the sulfate moeity via ionic bonds. I.e. you can have two different types of bonds in the same molecule. Sulfur and oxygen form covalent bonds, and the tip-off is how close they are to each other in the periodic table.
But is there a hard and fast rule to recognize ionic bonds? Not a perfect one, or at least I dont’ recall one.

By: ☮Luwayla

☮Luwayla — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:37:57 +0000

Ionic compounds are always a metal and a non-metal bonded together. But covalent compounds are 2 non-metals bonded together.
MgO is a metal and a non-metal so that would be ionic.
H20 is a non-metal and a non-metal so that would be covalent.
Na20 is a metal and a non-metals so that would be ionic.
I hope I’ve helped.

Comments on: How Can I Tell What Chemical Formulas Are Ionic Compounds??

By: The_Doc_

By: ☮Luwayla