A small piece of sodium metal is placed in a flask of chlorine gas. A little water helps expose the sodium so it can react with the chlorine gas. The reaction releases a lot of heat as the ionic ...

This pattern is repeated in all directions, giving a giant three-dimensional lattice structure in sodium chloride crystals. When a crystal of an ionic compound dissolves in water, the ions separate.

The details of how ions are formed are not required for this topic. In Unit 1 you are expected to be able to use the table of common ions to identify the ions present in a compound and then construct ...