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Bonding of Sucrose
Name: Matthew Heine
Status: student
Age: 15
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Around 1999
Question:
Is sucrose a covalent or ionic bond?
Is melting point a characteristic property of the different bonds (ionic &
covalent)? If so, which has lower melting points?
Replies:
Dear Matthew,
The short answer is yes. The stronger
the bonds between molecules, the higher the
melting point will be. Since ionic bonds are
the strongest of all, ionic solids (like salt)
tend to have higher melting points than other
solids (like sugar).
Best Regards,
Prof. Topper
Dept of Chemistry
The Cooper Union
new york, ny
Hi Matthew,
Typically, a covalently bound molecule will have a lower melting point
than
an ionically bound molecule. This is because a covalently bound molecule has
bonds that tie specific atoms together to form a single molecular unit, whether
it is a solid, liquid, or gas. Thus, bonding between different molecules of
the substance only occur by forces such as the Van der Waals forces which are
relatively weak, resulting in a low melting point. Ionic bonds are the result
of opposite charges attracting and are non-directional. As a result, a cation
is bound equally to all its nearest neighbor anions (and vice versa). This is
a stronger bond than the Van der Waals forces and the melting points are
higher.
Greg Bradburn
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Update: June 2012
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