Hello! I have a problem with AlCl3 as the bond between Al and Cl is not fully ionic and they have a covalent nature to them due to the respectively low difference in their electronegativities. Thats why they exist as dimers which are considered simple molecular substances. As a result, Al2Cl6 can sublime at atmospheric pressure. On the other hand, the bond in NaCl is fully ionic which makes its melting and boiling point much higher than those of the dimer AlCl3.
Thank you for the message! This video is just about the ionic bonding model, it isn’t about ionic or covalent character. Modelling AlCl3 as purely ionic demonstrates the importance of mass to charge ratio and how the strength of attraction between ions is a product of charge difference and strength. You are correct that based on experimental observation, AlCl3 shows covalent character meaning ionic bonding can’t be used as a sole model to describe its bonding however these considerations aren’t usually introduced to students at the start of their course when learning about ionic bonding. This is why I’ve outlined it in more detail in one of my videos on Lattice Enthalpies and at chemistrystudent.com. Hope that helps and thank you again!
The idea of high charge density with the small ions being more stronger due to the close interactions of electrostatic forces but the larger ions having a weaker force in comparison confuses me could anyone explain maybe in visual terms how this is possible as I thought the larger ion having bigger charges, and what I would think larger electrostatic force interactions is wrong
So underrated 🔥
Hope it helped out :)
your so good with explaining different topics keep up the good work.👍
Thank you! Hope it helped out :)
Hello! I have a problem with AlCl3 as the bond between Al and Cl is not fully ionic and they have a covalent nature to them due to the respectively low difference in their electronegativities. Thats why they exist as dimers which are considered simple molecular substances. As a result, Al2Cl6 can sublime at atmospheric pressure. On the other hand, the bond in NaCl is fully ionic which makes its melting and boiling point much higher than those of the dimer AlCl3.
Thank you for the message! This video is just about the ionic bonding model, it isn’t about ionic or covalent character. Modelling AlCl3 as purely ionic demonstrates the importance of mass to charge ratio and how the strength of attraction between ions is a product of charge difference and strength. You are correct that based on experimental observation, AlCl3 shows covalent character meaning ionic bonding can’t be used as a sole model to describe its bonding however these considerations aren’t usually introduced to students at the start of their course when learning about ionic bonding. This is why I’ve outlined it in more detail in one of my videos on Lattice Enthalpies and at chemistrystudent.com. Hope that helps and thank you again!
The idea of high charge density with the small ions being more stronger due to the close interactions of electrostatic forces but the larger ions having a weaker force in comparison confuses me could anyone explain maybe in visual terms how this is possible as I thought the larger ion having bigger charges, and what I would think larger electrostatic force interactions is wrong
thank you
Thank you! Hope you found it helpful :)