Learning outcomes - after studying this topic, you should be able to:

• describe and explain the periodic trends in electronegativity
• explain the origin of ionic bonding
• explain why ionic interactions lead to crystals rather than small molecules
• explain the meaning of the term “lattice energy”
• understand how the lattice energy is influenced by size and charge of the ions
• explain how ionic radii influence crystal structure, and why they differ from atomic radii

• Sections 5.2 and 7.2 (in Blackman, Bottle, Schmid, Mocerino and Wille, Chemistry, 3^rd Edition, 2015 (John Wiley) )

• ionic bonds (in Wikibooks General Chemistry)