Kelsey Zehring

Period: 2

Properties of Ionic and Covalent Compounds

Materials:

Hot Plate
Aluminum Foil
Well Plate
Conductivity Meter
Spatulas
Calcium Chloride
Acetylsalicylic acid
Acetaminophen
Potassium iodide
Sodium chloride
Sucrose
Distilled water
Goggles

Procedure:
Ionic and covalent compounds
To find relative melting point:
1. Place your goggles on and make sure hair is up and all loose articles of clothing are
pulled back
2. Gather your needed materials
3. Using the aluminum foil make a large boat to hold all of the compounds
4. Place the boat on a hot plate
5. Use a spatula and place a small amount of each compound onto the aluminum foil boat
6. Be sure to know where you placed each compound, so there is no confusion between
the substances
7. Turn the hot plate onto medium heat
8. Carefully watch the substances begin to melt
9. Be sure to turn the hot plate off and unplug it as soon as the substances melt to ensure
there is no burning or fire caused by the chemical compounds
10. Once the aluminum foil boat is slightly cooled be sure to carefully place it into the
wastebasket
11. Once steps 1-9 are complete make sure your lab area is cleaned up and your materials
are properly placed back where they came from and all chemical compounds are
properly disposed
12. After completing all ten steps above, record your results and observations
To find the solubility:
1. Place your goggles on and make sure your hair is tied back and loose clothing is out of
the way
2. Gather your needed materials
3. Put a squeeze of distilled water into each well
4. Scoop a spatula of each compound into each well
5. Closely watch each compound to see which ones dissolve
6. When the experiment is done clean up and dispose your chemicals properly
7. Be sure your lab station is cleaned up and your materials are put back in their original
places
8. After the lab is complete, record a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the column under solubility in water

To find the conductivity:

1. Repeat steps 1-4 from the solubility procedure above
2. Place the conductivity meter in the wells.
3. When it lights up red it mean it is conductive, when it does not light up it is not
conductive.
4. Place your materials back and dispose of your chemical compounds properly
5. Once you have cleaned up, record your results by placing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the column
about conductivity

Data and Observations:

Compounds Appearance Relative Solubility in Conductivity

Melting Point Water

Calcium Snow balls X Yes Very High

Chloride

Acetylsalicylic Powder, white 3 No Medium

acid

Acetaminophen White, powder 2 No Medium

Potassium Pop rocks, white X Yes High

Chloride

Sodium Chloride Looks like salt X Yes Medium

Sucrose Looks like sugar 1 No Low

Analysis:

1.)
Calcium Chloride: I would classify this compound as an Ionic compound. It has very high
conductivity. It is also soluble and does no have a relative melting point which matches all of the
properties of an Ionic bonds..

Acetylsalicylic acid: I would classify this as Covalent because it has 2 of the 3 properties of a
covalent compounds. It has a relative melting point and it is not soluble. The last one is
conductivity which is a property for ionic bonds.

Acetaminophen: I would consider this as Covalent. It has properties of being conductive and
having relative melting points. It is not soluble in water. I would say it is covalent because it has
⅔ properties for covalent bonds.

Potassium Iodide: I would consider this compound as an Ionic bond. It has ⅔ properties for Ionic
bonds being : Soluble in water and conductive.

Sodium Chloride: I would consider this compound as an Ionic bond. It has ⅔ properties for Ionic
bonds being : Soluble in water and conductive.

Sucrose: I would consider this compound as Covalent because it was the first to melt which is a
low melting point. It is not soluble in water and has low conductivity.

2.)
Calcium Chloride: CaCl2
Acetylsalicylic Acid: C9H8O4
Acetaminophen: C8H9NO2
Potassium Iodide: KI
Sodium Chloride: NaCl
Sucrose: C12H22O11

2a.) The chemical formulas can be used to help identify the substances as ionic or covalent
depending on if there are non-metal or metals within each formula which would make it Ionic. If
there are all non-metal elements in their formulas then it would be Covalent bonds.

3.) Sucrose is a covalent compound, but it is able to dissolve in water because sugar dissolves
in water because there is energy given off when the slight polar sucrose molecules still form the
bonds with hydrogen molecules.

Conclusion:

The purpose of this lab was to identify each compound as either ionic or covalent by
using their physical properties to decide. By doing this lab I got a better understanding of the
difference between ionic and covalent bonds. The purpose of this lab was met because we
identified all six compounds as either ionic or covalent by using our data and observations table
we filled out during the lab. Going into this lab I knew that covalent and ionic bonds were very
opposite to each other. Ionic bonds have high melting points, hold atoms together, are soluble in
water, and include a bond between metals and nonmetals (metal transfers to nonmetal).
Covalent bonds have low melting points, electrons are shared between two atoms, they are non
conductive, and are between two nonmetals. In order for each of these bonds to occur ionic
bonds must be connected with two different elements one metal and one nonmetal, and
covalent bonds need to be formed by two nonmetal elements sharing electrons. The valence
electrons are important because each element is trying to form an octet (full outer shell of 8
electrons). A brief description of what we did was placed each compound on the hot plate and
in a test tube with water. On the hot plate we watched to see which ones melted and the order
in which they did so. In the test tubes we watched to see which ones were soluble. Then to test
which compounds were conductive we used a conductivity meter and placed it in the test tube
with water. After we got the results were recorded them in our lab tables. The results of this lab
were accurate. We followed directions and performed it properly. Some little improvements we
could have made was putting a little smaller amount of each compound on the hot plate so we
could keep them separated. We put a little too much of each compound in the foil plate. To
change our mistakes we need to label them a little better. Other than that our lab was performed
very well. We all got the results we were looking for.