Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
1. Which is not an ionic compound?
A) KCl
B) Ca(NO3)2
C) CBr4
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
D) AlBr3
2. Which is not a covalent compound?
A) Br2
B) NO2
C) NH3
D) NaNO2
E) More than one of the compounds above is not a covalent compound.
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
3. In bonding, main group elements _____ to attain the electronic configuration of the noble
gas closest to them in the periodic table.
A) gain electrons
C) share electrons
B) lose electrons
D) gain, lose, or share electrons
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
4. _____ are negatively charged ions that have _____ electrons than protons.
A) Anions, more
B) Cations, more
C) Anions, less
D) Cations, less
Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
5. Which statement concerning the ion Li+ is correct?
A) Li+ has two total electrons.
B) Li+ has an octet of electrons in its valence shell.
C) Li+ is formed when a lithium atom gains one electron.
D) Li+ is formed when a lithium atom gains one proton.
Ans: A
Difficulty: Difficult
6. What is the electron configuration of an F– ion?
A) 1s22s22p4
B) 1s22s22p5
C) 1s22s22p6
Ans: C
Difficulty: Difficult
D) 1s22s22p63s1
7. What is the ion symbol for an atom with twenty (20) protons and eighteen (18) electrons?
A) Ca
B) Ca2+
C) Ar
D) Ar2+
E) Ar2–
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
8. When forming ions, metals typically do which of the following?
A) lose electrons to form negatively charged ions
B) gain protons to form cations
C) gain electrons to form anions
D) lose electrons to form positively charged ions
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
9. What is the ion symbol for an atom with sixteen (16) protons and eighteen (18) electrons?
A) S2–
B) S
C) Ar
D) Ar2+
E) Ar2–
Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
10. How many protons and electrons are present in Co2+?
A) 27 protons, 27 electrons
C) 27 protons, 25 electrons
B) 27 protons, 29 electrons
D) 29 protons, 27 electrons
Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
11. What is the symbol for the ion formed by magnesium?
A) Mg2–
B) Mg3+
C) Mg2+
D) Mg4–
Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
12. What is the charge of the ions formed by group 7A elements?
A) +1
B) +7
C) –1
D) –7
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
13. What is the ion symbol of the oxide ion?
A) O2–
B) O22–
C) O2
D) O2+
Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
E) O6–
14. Which element has a variable charge?
A) Na
B) Fe
C) Al
D) C
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
15. Which pair of elements will form an ionic compound?
A) sulfur and oxygen
C) iron and chlorine
B) copper and iron
D) bromine and oxygen
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
16. What is the formula for the ionic compound formed when potassium and bromine
combine?
A) PBr
B) KBr
C) KBr2
D) K2Br
E) K7Br
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
17. What is the formula for the ionic compound lithium oxide?
A) LiO
B) LiO2
C) Li2O
D) Li2O2
Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
18. Which statement best explains the basis for the octet rule?
A) Atoms are most stable when they have eight bonds.
B) Atoms lose, gain, or share electrons to become a stable, noble gas.
C) Atoms are most stable with eight protons in their nucleus.
D) Atoms are most stable with eight electrons in their valence shell and the electron
configuration of a noble gas.
Ans: D
Difficulty: Difficult
19. What is the formula for the ionic compound formed when magnesium and oxygen
combine?
A) MgO
B) MgO2
C) Mg2O
D) Mg2O2
Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
20. What is the formula for the ionic compound formed when aluminum and sulfur combine?
A) AlS
B) Al2S3
C) AlS3
D) Al2S
E) Al3S2
Ans: B
Difficulty: Difficult
21. What is the proper name for CuCl?
A) copper chloride
B) copper (I) chloride
Ans: B
Difficulty: Difficult
C)
D)
copper (II) chloride
copper monochloride
22. What is the proper name for MgF2?
A) magnesium fluoride
B) magnesium (I) fluoride
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
C)
D)
magnesium (II) fluoride
magnesium difluoride
23. What is the name of the SO42– ion?
A) sulfide ion
B) sulfate ion
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
C) sulfite ion
D) bisulfate ion
24. What is the chemical formula for the ionic compound calcium selenide?
A) Ca2Se2
B) CaSe
C) CaSe2
D) Ca2Se
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
25. What is the chemical formula of tin (IV) cyanide?
A) Sn4CN
B) SnCN4
C) Sn(CN)4
D) SnC4N4
Ans: C
Difficulty: Difficult
26. The formula for zinc acetate is _____.
A) ZnCH3CO2
B) Zn(CH3CO2)2
Ans: B
Difficulty: Difficult
C) Zn(HCO3)2
D) Zn(HCl)8
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
27. Which chemical formula is not correct?
A) Na2HCO3
B) NaNO3
C) Na2HPO4
D) Na2SO3
E) More than one of the above formulas is not correct.
Ans: A
Difficulty: Difficult
28. Which chemical formula is correct?
A) Ag(CH3CO2)2
B) K2CN
C) Mg(OH)2
D) MgHCO3
E) More than one of the above formulas is correct.
Ans: C
Difficulty: Difficult
29. An atom has the electron-dot symbol shown below. If this atom is a main group
element, what charge will it form in its ionic state?
A) –1
Ans: B
B) +3
C) –5
Difficulty: Easy
D) –3
30. Which atom fits the electron-dot symbol shown below?
A) Li
Ans: B
B) B
C) N
D) Na
Difficulty: Medium
31. If atoms with the electron-dot symbols shown below are combined, what is the formula
of the ionic compound that is formed?
A) XY
Ans: B
B) X2Y
C) XY2
Difficulty: Difficult
D) X2Y2
E) X3Y2
32. If atoms with the electron-dot symbols shown below are combined, what is the formula
of the ionic compound that is formed?
A) XY
Ans: A
B) X2Y
C) XY2
Difficulty: Difficult
D) X2Y2
E) X3Y2
33. What period 4 element forms an ion with a –1 charge?
A) sulfur
B) bromine
C) iodine
D) rubidium
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
E) potassium
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
34. What is the name of the compound (NH4)2SO4?
A) ammonium sulfide
D)
B) ammonia sulfate
E)
C) ammonia sulfoxide
Ans: D
Difficulty: Difficult
35. The correct name for Ag2O is _____.
A) silver (II) oxide
B) silver (I) oxide
Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
ammonium sulfate
diammonium sulfate
C) silver oxide
D) disilver oxide
36. Which compound has the highest melting point?
A) KCl
B) CH4
C) C6H12O6
D) H2O
Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
37. What is the charge on the chromium ion in the ionic compound CrCl3?
A) +6
B) +3
C) –3
D) –6
E) Not enough information is given to determine the charge.
Ans: B
Difficulty: Difficult
38. What is the formula for the ionic compound formed from the lead (II) ion and the
carbonate ion?
A) Pb(CO3)2
B) PbCO3
C) Pb2CO3
D) PbCO4
Ans: B
Difficulty: Difficult
39. The correct name for AuI3 is
A) silver iodide
B) gold iodide
Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
C) gold (III) iodide
40. What is the formula for chromous cyanide?
A) CrCN
B) Cr(CN)2
C) Cr(CN)3
Ans: B
Difficulty: Difficult
D) gold iodide (III)
D) Cr2CN
41. The diphosphate ion is a biologically important polyatomic ion. If the ionic compound
calcium diphosphate has the formula Ca2P2O7, which correctly represents the ion symbol
of the diphosphate ion?
A) P2O72–
B) PO4–
C) 2 PO46–
D) P2O74–
Ans: D
Difficulty: Difficult
42. Anions are formed when a neutral atom gains one or more electrons.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
43. The (II) in the name of the ionic compound lead (II) acetate specifically indicates that
there are two lead ions present in the compound.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
44. Neutral atoms always contain an equal number of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
45. Ionic compounds are composed of individual molecules, discrete groups of atoms that
share electrons.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
46. Ionic compounds are composed of positively and negatively charged ions held together
by strong electrostatic forces.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
47. Bonding is the joining of two atoms in a stable arrangement.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
48. Ionic bonds result from the sharing of electrons between two atoms.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
49. A cation is positively charged, and has more electrons than the neutral atom.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
50. The ionic formula for zinc oxide is ZnO2.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
51. Ionic compounds have very high melting points compared to covalent compounds.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
52. All ionic compounds are soluble in water.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
53. An ionic compound is a pure substance formed by chemically combining two or more
nonmetal atoms together.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
54. A polyatomic ion is an ion that forms more than one charge.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
55. The name of an anion usually ends in the -ide if it is derived from a single atom or -ate
(or -ite) if it is polyatomic.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
56. The correct name for CaHPO4 is calcium phosphate.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
57. The symbol for the nitrite ion is NO2–.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
58. The noble gas that has the same electronic configuration as the iodide ion is krypton.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
59. Elements in group 2A form ions with a +2 charge.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
60. Ionic compounds are usually solids at room temperature.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
61. The formula for copper (II) hydroxide is Cu(OH)2.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
62. Sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are two acceptable names for the same compound.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
63. Sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydrogen carbonate are two acceptable names for the
same compound.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
64. The sulfite ion contains more oxygen atoms than the sulfate ion.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
65. The carbonate ion contains the same number of oxygen atoms as the sulfate ion.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
66. The electron configuration for the sulfide ion is 1s22s22p63s23p64s2.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Difficult
67. If the main group element has an electron-dot symbol of
ion will be +2.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
, the charge of the resulting
68. If the main group element has an electron-dot symbol of
ion will be –2.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
, the charge of the resulting
69. All polyatomic ions are anions.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
70. All isotopes of an element form the same type of ion.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
71. All p block elements form ions.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Difficult
72. The ion symbol for the ferric ion is Fe2+.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
73. An iron (III) ion has 29 protons and 26 electrons.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
74. An iodide ion has 53 protons and 54 electrons.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
75. Strontium and barium form ions with the same charge.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
76. Potassium sulfide has the chemical formula K2S.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
77. In crystal of an ionic compound, the cations are surrounded by anions so that the charges
of the ions are balanced.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
78. The formula for stannic fluoride is SnF4.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
79. The chemical formulas of ionic compounds are written with the cation first, and then the
anion, with subscripts to show how many of each are needed to have zero net charge.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
80. A main group element is especially stable when it possesses eight total electrons.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
81. When magnesium forms an ion it gains two electrons.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
82. When forming an ion, an atom with the electron-dot symbol of
a –3 charge by the loss of three electrons.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
forms an anion with
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Chapter 3: Ionic Compounds
83. Ionic bonds form between a metal on the _____ side of the periodic table and a nonmetal
on the _____ side.
Ans: left, right
Difficulty: Easy
84. The electrons in the outermost occupied shell of an atom are called the _____ electrons.
Ans: valence
Difficulty: Easy
85. The _____ rule states that a main group element is especially stable when it possesses
eight electrons in its outer shell.
Ans: octet
Difficulty: Easy
86. The chemical formula for iron (III) bicarbonate is _____.
Ans: Fe(HCO3)3
Difficulty: Difficult
87. The formula for the ammonium ion is _____.
Ans: NH4+
Difficulty: Medium
88. The electron configuration of the oxide ion is _____.
Ans: 1s22s22p6
Difficulty: Difficult
89. The Ca2+ ion contains _____ protons.
Ans: 20 or twenty
Difficulty: Medium
90. In bonding, main group elements gain, lose, or share electrons to attain the _____ of the
nearest noble gas neighbor to them in the periodic table.
Ans: electron configuration
Difficulty: Medium
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