Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: ordinarypeople on 25/07/2010 04:48:35
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What type of bonding is likely to dominate in TeO2 and LiCl? I need to use Ketelaar triangle as a hint given and use electronegativities. Please explain to me about Ketelaar triangle as well and how it is used. Thank you.
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Wikipedia gives some information about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Arkel-Ketelaar_triangle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Arkel-Ketelaar_triangle)
In general, this is what you can expect:
1) If two atoms have high electronegativities, a bond between them is likely covalent.
2) If two atoms have low electronegativities, a bond between them is likely metallic.
3) If one atom has a high electronegativity and the other a low electronegativity, a bond between them is likely ionic.
Of course, this isn't an "either or" situation. You can have bonds with character intermediate between the values (for example, a bond with character between covalent and ionic is called a polar covalent bond, such as in water).
Tellurium oxide is probably polar covalent; tellurium is of moderate electronegativity and oxygen is of high electronegativity.
Lithium chloride is definitely ionic as per rule 3.
On another note, electronegativities alone aren't always enough to tell what type of bond will be formed. Carbon has an electronegativity of 2.55 and a C-C bond is covalent. However, gold is of similar electronegativity (2.54) and an Au-Au bond is metallic. I don't know the reason for that, but I'm also a bit rusty on my chemistry.
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Thank you! That helps a lot [:D]