Chemical compounds in which anions and cations are held together by electrostatic force of attraction are known as ionic compounds. Cations and anions are charged species which are formed by losing and gaining electron(s) respectively to attain the nearest noble gas configuration or stability. Usually metals lose their valence electrons to form cations while non-metals accept electrons and form anions. Being held by a strong electrostatic force of attraction between ions, ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points.

(i) Which of the following electronic configuration is correct for the given elements?

Q. Chemical compounds in which anions and cations are held together by electrostatic force of attraction are known as ionic compounds. Cations and anions are charged species which are formed by losing and gaining electron(s) respectively to attain the nearest noble gas configuration or stability. Usually metals lose their valence electrons to form cations while non-metals accept electrons and form anions. Being held by a strong electrostatic force of attraction between ions, ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points.

(ii) To form an ionic compound, element Y accepts two electrons from X. Guess the elements X and Y from the options given below:

Q. In an ionic compound, cations and anions are held together by:

Q. Choose the correct option regarding the statements given below:
Statement 1: Ionic compounds have high boiling points.
Statement 2: In ionic bonds the oppositely charged ions are held together by strong electrostatic forces of attraction.

Q. The properties of most of the ionic solids deviate from their ideal ionic character because the lattice undergoes some distortion. Cations are usually smaller than anions and have a higher effective nuclear charge. The outer electron cloud in a cation is more firmly held than in an anion. The loose electron cloud of an anion, when attracted by the electron cloud of a cation, gets distorted. This phenomenon is known as polarization. Due to this phenomenon, the electron cloud of an anion shifts towards the cation which decreases both the magnitude of positive charge on the cation and the negative charge on the anion. In other words, covalent character develops in the ionic bond.

Amongst $LiCl$, $RbCl$, $BeC{l}_2$ and $MgC{l}_2$ the compounds with the greatest and the least ionic character respectively are: