Use the CER checklist to Make a Claim, supported by Evidence and Reasoning to answer this question: How can electrical conductivity be used to determine bond type? Recall: Ionic Bonds are between metal and nonmetals, Covalent Bonds are between nonmetals and nonmetals. Hint: In the simulation, you observed both of these types of bonds in your models.
Claim: Electrical conductivity can be used to determine bond type.
Evidence:
1. Metals conduct electricity due to the presence of free electrons that can freely move within the metal lattice. This is a characteristic of metallic bonding, which involves the sharing of electrons among a sea of delocalized electrons. In the simulation, metals such as sodium and magnesium exhibited high electrical conductivity.
2. Nonmetals generally do not conduct electricity because they do not have free electrons that can move. Covalent bonds involve the sharing of electrons between nonmetal atoms. In the simulation, elements such as chlorine and sulfur, which formed covalent bonds, did not conduct electricity.
Reasoning:
The observation that metals conduct electricity while nonmetals do not can be explained by the nature of their bond types. In metallic bonding, the presence of delocalized electrons allows for the flow of electric current. On the other hand, covalent bonds involve the sharing of electrons between nonmetal atoms, resulting in a lack of free electrons to carry an electrical charge.
Therefore, by assessing the electrical conductivity of a material or substance, one can determine the type of bond present. If the substance conducts electricity, it suggests the presence of metallic bonding, indicating a metal-nonmetal interaction. Conversely, if the substance does not conduct electricity, it indicates the presence of covalent bonds, which occur between nonmetals.