Inorganic Chemistry with Help Guides

 Consider a simple m.etal such as lithium, which has a body-centred cubic structure,. with eight nearest neighbo11rs and six next-nearest neighbours at a slightly greater distance. A lithium atom has one electron in its outer shell, which may be shared with one of its neighbours, forming a normal two-electron bond. Th.e atom could eqQally well be bonded to any of its other eight neighbours, so many different arrangements are possible. A lithium atom may form two bonds if it ionizes, and it can then form many structures similar to those in ,Figures 5.lc and .d. Pauling suggested that the true structur~ is a mixture of all the many possible bonding forms. The more possible structures there are, the 19wer the energy. This means that the cohesive force which holds the structure together is large, and in metallic lithium the cohesive energy is three times greater than in a Li2 molecule. The cohesive energy increases from Group I to II to III, and this is explained by the atoms being abl...

  Inorganic chemistry   deals with synthesis and behavior of inorganic and organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subjects of organic chemistry. The distinction between the two disciplines is far from absolute, as there is much overlap in the subdiscipline of organometallic chemistry. It has applications in every aspect of the chemical industry, including catalysis, materials science, pigments, surfactants, coatings, medications, fuels, and agriculture. Key concepts Many inorganic compounds are ionic compounds, consisting of cations and anions joined by ionic bonding. Examples of salts (which are ionic compounds) are magnesium chloride MgCl2, which consists of magnesium cations Mg2+ and chloride anions Cl−; or sodium oxide Na2O, which consists of sodium cations Na+ and oxide anions O2−. In any salt, the proportions of the ions are such that the electric charges cancel out, so that the bulk compound is electricall...