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

• explain the origin of ionic bonding as a limiting case of MO theory
• explain why ionic interactions lead to crystals rather than small molecules
• define the Madelung constant, and explain its relevance to the stability of an ionic crystal
• 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)