Edexcel GCSE Chemistry

Topic Questions

GCSEChemistryEdexcelTopic Questions1. Atomic Structure1.3 Ionic Bonding

1.3 Ionic Bonding

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1a1 mark

This question is about lithium and chlorine. 

Which group of the periodic table is chlorine in?

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1b4 marks

Lithium reacts with chlorine to produce lithium chloride.

lithium      +      chlorine          lithium chloride

The diagram in Figure 1 shows how the reaction happens.

Only the outer electrons are shown.

Figure 1 

aqa-gcse-2-1e--q1b-lithium-chloride-electron-transfer

Use the words in the boxes to complete the sentences: 

gaining sharing positive group 1 negative 
covalent losing group 0   electrostatic neutral 


A lithium atom becomes an ion by ...............................................  one electron. 

A lithium ion has a ............................................... charge. 

The lithium ion now has the electronic structure of a ............................................... element.

The ions in lithium chloride are held together by strong ............................................... forces.

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1c2 marks

Why do lithium and chlorine react in this way?

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1d1 mark

Magnesium and bromine will form an ionic compound, like lithium and chlorine.

What is the formula of the ionic compound formed from magnesium and bromine?

Tick (✓) one box.

 MgBr  
 MgBr2  
Mg2Br  

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2a1 mark

Magnesium atoms have 12 protons and 12 electrons.

Which statement about Mg2+ ion is true? 

  ☐ A Mg2+ contains 12 protons and 14 electrons
  ☐ B Mg2+ contains 12 protons and 10 electrons
  ☐ C Mg2+ contains 10 protons and 12 electrons
  ☐ D

Mg2+ contains 14 protons and 10 electrons

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2b2 marks

Magnesium and oxygen atoms react together to form an ionic compound.

Put two ticks (✓) next to the correct statements that describe what happens for this ionic compound to form. 

Oxygen loses two electrons to form ions with a +2 charge

 

Magnesium loses two electrons to form ions with a +2 charge

 

Magnesium gains two electrons to form an ion with a -2 charge

 

Oxygen gains two electrons to form ions with a a -2 charge

 

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2c1 mark

Ionic compounds have an overall charge of 0.
When magnesium and chlorine react, magnesium forms an Mg2+ ion and chlorine forms a Cl- ion

What is the correct ionic formula of magnesium chloride? 

  ☐ A MgCl2
  ☐ B MgCl
  ☐ C Mg2Cl
  ☐ D MgCl3

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2d1 mark

Ionic compounds have very high melting and boiling points.

Put a tick (✓) next to the correct statement that describe why ionic compounds have such high melting and boiling points. 

Positively charged and negatively charged ions are arranged in a regular, repeating arrangement

 

Positively charged and negatively charged ions have strong electrostatic forces of attraction between them

 

Positively charged and negatively charged atoms have strong electrostatic forces of attraction between them

 

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3a1 mark

Sodium chloride, NaCl, is an ionic compound.

Put a tick (✓) next to the correct statement that describes the structure of solid sodium chloride. 

Positively charged and negatively charged ions are arranged in a regular, repeating lattice arrangement

 

Positively charged and negatively charged atoms arranged in a giant covalent structure

 

Positively charged and negatively charged atoms arranged in a giant metallic structure

 

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3b1 mark

Ions are electrically charged atoms or groups of atoms.  

Which statement about how sodium ions are formed is true? 

  ☐ A A sodium atom gains one electron
  ☐ B A sodium ion gains one electron
  ☐ C A sodium atom loses one electron
  ☐ D A sodium ion loses one electron

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3c1 mark

Ionic compounds have an overall charge of 0.
Sodium forms an Na+ ion and chlorine forms a Cl- ion, when they react to form sodium chloride.

What is the ionic formula of sodium chloride? 

  ☐ A NaCl2
  ☐ B NaCl
  ☐ C Na2Cl
  ☐ D NaCl3

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3d2 marks

Sodium chloride has a melting point of 801oC.

Put two ticks (✓) next to the correct statements that explain the high melting point of sodium chloride. 

Sodium chloride has strong covalent bonds

 

Sodium chloride has giant structure

 

Sodium chloride has strong forces of electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions

 

Sodium chloride has strong forces of electromagnetic attraction between oppositely charged ions

 

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4a1 mark

Lithium and magnesium are both metals. Lithium atoms form Li+ ions and magnesium atoms form Mg2+ ions.

Which statement about the formation of both these ions is true? 

  ☐ A Magnesium atoms gain 2 electrons and lithium atoms gain 1 electron
  ☐ B Magnesium atoms lose 2 electrons and lithium atoms lose 1 electron
  ☐ C Magnesium atoms lose 1 electron and lithium atoms lose 2 electrons
  ☐ D Both atoms lose 2 electrons each

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4b1 mark

Lithium reacts with bromine to form an ionic compound.

What is the name of the ionic compound formed? 

  ☐ A Lithium bromate
  ☐ B Lithium bromide
  ☐ C Lithium bromine
  ☐ D Lithium brominide

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4c1 mark

Lithium bromide is an ionic compound.

Put a tick (✓) next to the correct statement that describes the bonding within solid lithium bromide. 

Positively charged and negatively charged ions are attracted to each other via electrostatic forces of attraction

 

Positively charged and negatively charged atoms share a pair of electrons

 

Positively charged and negatively charged atoms are attracted to each other via electrostatic forces of attraction

 

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4d1 mark

Lithium forms Li+ ions and bromine forms Br- ions to form an ionic compound.

What is the correct formula of lithium bromide? 

  ☐ A LiBr2
  ☐ B LiBr
  ☐ C Li2Br
  ☐ D LiBr3

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5a1 mark

Fluorine and chlorine are both non- metals.

Fluorine atoms form  F- ions and chlorine atoms form Cl- ions.

Which statement about the formation of these ions is true? 

  ☐ A Fluorine gains 1 electron and chlorine loses 1 electron
  ☐ B Fluorine loses 1 electron and chlorine gains 1 electron
  ☐ C They both lose 1 electron
  ☐ D They both gain 1 electron

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5b1 mark

Calcium reacts with fluorine to form an ionic compound.

What is the name of the ionic compound formed? 

  ☐ A Calcium fluorate
  ☐ B Calcium carbonate
  ☐ C Calcium fluoride
  ☐ D Calcium fluorine

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5c1 mark

Calcium forms Ca2+ ions and chlorine forms F- ions to form an ionic compound.

What is the correct ionic formula for the compound formed? 

  ☐ A CaF2
  ☐ B CaF
  ☐ C Ca2F
  ☐ D CaF3

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5d1 mark

All Group 2 elements lose electrons to become ions.

Which statement about the formation of Group 2 metal ions is true? 

☐ A

Group 2 elements lose 1 electron to form ions with +1 charge
☐ B

Group 2 elements lose 2 electrons to form ions with +2 charge
☐ C

Group 2 elements lose 2 electrons to form ions with -2 charge
☐ D

Group 2 elements lose 1 electron to form ions with -1 charge

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1a3 marks

A student made the statement:

“Sodium forms ions with a 2+ charge”.

Explain why the student’s statement is incorrect. 

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1b4 marks

Compare the bonds formed by ionic and covalent compounds. 

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1c4 marks

Describe the electron transfer when strontium reacts with oxygen. 

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1d3 marks

Compare the structure of sodium chloride, NaCl, with calcium chloride, CaCl2 in terms of their ionic lattice. 

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2a4 marks

Explain why fluorine atoms form F- ions. 

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2b4 marks

Explain the electron transfer in the formation of sodium fluoride, NaF.

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2c5 marks

Explain how the ionic lattice of sodium chloride influences its physical properties. 

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3a3 marks

Explain why aqueous sodium fluoride is able to conduct electricity but solid sodium fluoride  is not. 

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3b3 marks

Figure 1 shows the electronic configuration of a fluoride ion.

edx-1-3-hard-paper-2-q3b-1

Figure 1

Explain why the electronic configuration diagram of fluoride ion is incorrect. 

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3c3 marks

Explain why Dalton’s model of the atom would not have been able to explain the formation of ions. 

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3d2 marks

Explain why the ionic compound formed from sodium and fluorine atoms is called “sodium fluoride” and not “florate sodium”. 

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11 mark

Potassium reacts with chlorine to form potassium chloride.

The electronic configuration of the potassium atom is 2.8.8.1 and the electronic configuration of the chlorine is 2.8.7.

What are the electronic configurations of the ions formed?

 
      K+ Cl-
  ☐ A 2.8.8.2 2.8.7
  ☐ B 2.8.8.2 2.8.8
  ☐ C 2.8.8 2.8.7
  ☐ D 2.8.8 2.8.8

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2a1 mark

An aluminium atom has the atomic number 13 and the mass number 27.

Which row shows the numbers of subatomic particles present in an aluminium ion, Al3+? 

      protons neutrons electrons
  ☐ A 13 14 13
  ☐ B 13  14 10
  ☐ C 14 13 10
  ☐ D 14  13 17

  

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2b
Sme Calculator3 marks

Magnesium burns in excess oxygen to form magnesium oxide.

The balanced equation for this reaction is

 
2Mg + O2 → 2MgO
 

Starting with 1.35 g of magnesium, calculate the maximum mass of magnesium oxide that could be formed in this reaction.

(relative atomic masses: O = 16.0, Mg = 24.0)

 

You must show your working.

 
mass of magnesium oxide = .............................. g

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2c3 marks

Chlorine reacts with hydrogen to form hydrogen chloride.

Write the balanced equation for this reaction.

 

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2d6 marks

Sodium chloride is an ionic compound, containing sodium ions, Na+, and chloride ions, Cl–.

Figure 15 shows the electronic configuration of sodium and chlorine.

 
  electron configuration
sodium 2.8.1
chlorine 2.8.7
 
Figure 15
 

Explain how sodium and chlorine atoms form the ions in sodium chloride and how the ions are arranged in the solid sodium chloride. 

You may wish to use diagrams in your answer.

 

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2e2 marks

Sodium reacts with chlorine to form sodium chloride.

The electronic configuration of the sodium atom is 2.8.1 and the electronic configuration of the chlorine atom is 2.8.7.

Give the electronic configurations of the ions formed.

Na+ ...............................................
 
Cl–    ...............................................

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31 mark

Ionic compounds contain ions.

The numbers of electrons, neutrons and protons in four particles A, B, C and D are shown below.

Which one is the negative ion?

 
    particle electrons neutrons protons
  ☐ A 6 6 6
  ☐ B 10 12 11
  ☐ C 10 14 13
  ☐ D 18 20 17

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41 mark

The structure of an ionic compound, sodium chloride, is a lattice structure.

Which of the following statements about an ionic lattice structure is not true?

 
  ☐ A There is a regular arrangement of ions in the lattice
  ☐ B The layers of ions slide over each other easily in the lattice
  ☐ C The ions are arranged with alternating anions and cations
  ☐ D Strong electrostatic forces of attraction occur between oppositely charged ions

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5a2 marks

The name of an ionic compound can be used to deduce its formula.

Draw one straight line from each name of an ionic compound to its correct formula.

screenshot-2023-01-29-130805

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5b1 mark

What is meant by the term ion?

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5c3 marks

When sodium and chlorine react together, they form the ionic compound, sodium chloride.

Use words from the box to complete the sentences about how sodium chloride is formed.

lose   electrostatic   negative  
  positive   gain  

intermolecular    

Sodium atoms ...................... one electron to form ...................... ions and chlorine atoms ...................... one electron to form ...................... ions. There are ...................... forces of attraction between the oppositely charged ions which hold the compound together.

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5d1 mark

Which substance does not have ionic bonding?

  ☐ A lithium sulfide
  ☐ B calcium carbonate
  ☐ C carbon dioxide
  ☐ D magnesium oxide

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