This week focused mainly on ionic bonds, ionic compounds, anions, and cations.
The first lesson gave an intro to ionic bonds, which is a chemical bond formed by electrostatic attraction between positive and negative ions. There were examples given on how to write out the Lewis Dot Symbols for elements that were transferring valence electrons to form an ionic bond.
The second lesson was about identifying positive and negative cations and anions. The main concept to remember about this lesson is that a metal reacts with a nonmetal to form an ionic bond. The lesson went through all the groups of the Periodic Table identifying the different cations and anions belonging to them. There is a table of Common Monatomic Cations and Anions to memorize or look back on if need be.
Lesson 3 of week 16 was about transition metals and the cations they form, and the old and new way of naming monoatomic and polyatomic ions. The lesson itself was short, but there were a bunch of examples to work through and practice.
Lesson 4 focused on naming ionic compounds and working through a bunch of examples. It also covered why ionic substances make good electrolyte solutions. Understanding the concepts are easy, but it is working through all the problems and examples that takes the most time.
louisa neudorf 