Question

Name five metals and five nonmetals that are very likely to form ionic compounds. Write formulas for compounds that might result from the combination of these metals and nonmetals. Name these compounds.

Short answer

Five metals are Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminum, Potassium, and Calcium. Five nonmetals are Fluorine, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Chlorine, and Sulfur. Ionic compounds formed are Sodium Fluoride (NaF), Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Aluminum Nitride (AlN), Potassium Chloride (KCl), and Calcium Sulfide (CaS).

Step-by-step solution

Naming five metals

First, choose five metals. For this exercise, Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminium (Al), Potassium (K) and Calcium (Ca) will be selected.

Naming five nonmetals

Now, choose five nonmetals. For this exercise, Fluorine (F), Oxygen (O), Nitrogen (N), Chlorine (Cl), and Sulfur (S) will be selected.

Forming Ionic Bonds

Next step is to pair up the metals and nonmetals to form ionic compounds. For example: Sodium (Na) can combine with Fluorine (F) to form Sodium Fluoride (NaF). Similarly, Magnesium (Mg) combines with Oxygen (O) to form Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Aluminium (Al) combines with Nitrogen (N) to form Aluminium Nitride (AlN), Potassium (K) combines with Chlorine (Cl) to form Potassium Chloride (KCl), and Calcium (Ca) combines with Sulfur (S) to form Calcium Sulfide (CaS). Note that these are just examples and other compounds can be formed based on combining different elements.

Formulas of Ionic Compounds

Now, moving on to writing the formulas of these ionic compounds, it important to remember that ionic compounds are neutral, i.e., they have equal number of positive and negative charges. This is the reason why Magnesium Oxide is written as MgO and not MgO2, and Aluminium Nitride is written as AlN and not AlN3.

Naming the Compounds

Finally, the compounds formed are named. From our examples, Sodium and Fluorine combine to form Sodium Fluoride, Magnesium and Oxygen form Magnesium Oxide, Aluminium and Nitrogen form Aluminium Nitride, Potassium and Chlorine form Potassium Chloride, and Calcium and Sulfur form Calcium Sulfide.