Blame It on Electrostatic Attraction Forming Ionic Bonds

Blame It on Electrostatic Attraction Forming Ionic Bonds 

The difference between covalent crystals, such as diamond (see Chapter 6), and ionic crystals, such as table salt, is due to how neighboring atoms share electrons Covalent crystals share electrons in overlapping orbitals, whereas atoms forming ionic crystals donate electrons to the neighboring atom. Ionic bonding is the complete transfer of an electron from one atom to another. 

Electropositive ions are known as cations, and electronegative ions are called anions. As a general rule of thumb, for most ionic compounds, the anions are larger than the cations. This becomes important later in this chapter when we talk about the kinds of structures that can be made. 

There are a few simple items to remember throughout this chapter, and they can be summarized in the following three points  

The ionic bond involves the bonding of oppositely charged ions by complete donation of electrons from an electropositive atom to an electronegative atom. 

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