A small piece of sodium metal is placed in a flask of chlorine gas. A little water helps expose the sodium so it can react with the chlorine gas. The reaction releases a lot of heat as the ionic ...

sodium + chlorine → sodium chloride magnesium + oxygen → magnesium oxide calcium + chlorine → calcium chloride lithium + oxygen → lithium oxide In all of these reactions, the metal atoms ...

Remember that the lattice arrangement is giant - for example, a single grain of salt may contain 1.2 × 10 18 (1,200,000,000,000,000,000) ions. The lattice arrangement continues in three dimensions.

When two hydrogen atoms get close enough, the electron from each atom feels an attraction from the proton in the other atom's nucleus. This attraction pulls the atoms together. The electrons end up ...