Question

when salt crystal is dropped into water , how do the molecular properties of water and the ionic properties of salt interact.

Answer 1

When ionic bonds form, one atom becomes positively charged, while the other becomes negatively charged. This is because one has to lose a negatively charged electron and another has to gain one.

Water is a covalent compound that exhibits the property of polarity, where the electrons hang around one side of the molecule more than the other, giving a water molecule positive and negative poles (negative pole being where the electrons hang around more)


Ionic compound tend to form complex lattice networks and structures when left in their comfortable states. Take for example, the complex cube crystal lattice structure of salt. But when the salt is put in water, the polarized molecules act like tiny magnets, pulling on the poles of the salt molecules. The water molecules can pull hard enough to eventually break each salt molecule away from the lattice, dissolving the crystal structure.

When a salt is added to water, it dissolves into its component molecules until as many salt ions as the water can hold are floating around the hydrogen and oxygen molecules. When this happens, the solution is "saturated." As more salt is dissolved, sodium and chlorine ions bump into each other and re-combine into crystals of salt. This event is called "precipitation" because the solid that is formed falls to the bottom of the water. Salts are "hydrophilic," meaning they are attracted to water. This attraction facilitates a more familiar type of precipitation; raindrops form around minute salt crystals in clouds, giving rain its slightly salty taste.

Liquid water makes one of the best solvents, dissolving many ionic compounds such as table salt. The key to this ability lies in the electric attraction between its hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The positive protons in hydrogen attract negative ions, and the negative oxygen atoms attract positive ions. This creates enough force to break the bond in the ionic compound, dissolving it.

Ionic Bond

Ionic bonds form between two atoms when one loses an electron, becoming more positive, and another gains an electron, becoming more negative. Opposite electric charges attract each other, so the two atoms stick together. The two atoms together are more stable than they are by themselves. Other electric attractions between atoms are even stronger than the ionic bond; however, so the bond only lasts as long as no stronger forces are present.