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.

A dot and cross diagram for sodium chloride suggests that it is made up of pairs of sodium and chloride ions. It is not. A 3D construction model shows how the ions are arranged in a lattice structure.

A chemical compound is a chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemically bonded chemical elements, with a fixed ratio determining the composition. The ratio of each element is ...