What Is an Ionic Bond?
4. Ionic Lattice
Different chemicals are combined from different elements in ways that determine their overall structure. For example, water (H2O) has a loose structure with few bonds between atoms and this results in liquid. In cases of ionic bonding, the atoms have more connections between other atoms and this helps to make a rigid structure.
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This structure is known as an ionic lattice. In the case of salt, each sodium ion will be attracting all nearby chlorine atoms, and all chlorine atoms will be attracting all sodium atoms. This results in all of the atoms being packed tightly in together, resulting in the lattice structure.
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