Name __________________ Date ________

Unit 6 Study Guide: Bonding and Balancing Ionic Formulas

• Chemical Bonding
1. What is a valence electron?

2. When are elements stable?

a. When is helium stable?

3. Be able to identify how many valence electrons different elements have from groups 1, 2, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17 and 18.
a. Na
b. Ca
c. N
d. Si
e. I
f. Kr

4. Why do atoms chemically bond?

5. Why do metals tend to lose electrons?

*Know the fact that metals tend to lose electrons.

6. Why do nonmetals tend to gain electrons?

*Know the fact that nonmetals tend to gain electrons.

7. What kind of bond do you have if it is between a metal and a nonmetal?

8. What kind of bond do you have if it is between a nonmetal and a nonmetal?

9. What kind of bond do you have if electrons are gained/lost?

10. What kind of bond do you have if electrons are shared?

11. What is the difference between an ionic and a covalent bond?

12. Why do nonmetals share electrons?

• Covalent Bonds
13. How many electrons are in one covalent bond?

14. Why are covalently bonded compounds more stable than most un-bonded nonmetals?

15. What is an electron dot diagram

 Name __________________ Date ________

16. Be able to make an electron dot diagram for the first 20 elements.

a. H
b. Al
c. C
d. P
e. O
f. Ne
g. Be
h. Li
*Make sure you have the corrected chart that we cut out and taped into the notes

17. Which type of electrons (paired or unpaired) are involved in covalent bonds?

• Chemical Bonds: Ionic

18. When elements combine do they have the same properties as they did before forming the compound?

19. What is a chemical formula?

20. What is a subscript?

21. When given an example, be able to identify it as either a symbol or a formula.

a. H2O is a formula
b. Ca is a symbol

22. What is an ion?

23. If an atom loses an electron what will its charge be?

24. If an atom gains an electron what will its charge be?

• General Skills
25. When given an example, be able to identify it as either ionic or covalent.
a. KCl is ionic because it has a metal (K) and a nonmetal (Cl)
b. IBr is covalent because it has a nonmetal (I) and a nonmetal (Br)

• Balancing Ionic Formulas using the Criss-Cross Method

26. Know the oxidation numbers for the elements in group 1, 2, 16, and 17.
a. Group 1: 1+
b. Group 2: 2+
c. Group 16: 2-
d. Group 17: 1-

27. If given an element be able to tell what the oxidation number is.
a. Na
b. Mg
c. P
d. Br
 Name __________________ Date ________
e. Ar

28. Be able to balance ionic compound formulas using the criss-cross method.
Metal Nonmetal Criss-Cross Final Answer
K Br 29. 30.

Na O 31. 32.

Be S 33. 34.

Li O 35. 36.

K S 37. 38.

Li Br 39. 40.