What is the compound formed between hydrogen and fluorine?
1 Answer
Hydrogen fluoride.
It is a covalently bonded gas at room temperature.
The electronegativity difference between hydrogen and fluoride places the bond in a gray area which some sources will classify as ionic. The H-F bond (electronegativity difference 1.78) is considered polar covalent because hydrogen is nonmetallic. If fluorine were bonded to a metallic element with the same electronegativity (lead is very close) as hydrogen the bond would be considered ionic! H-F bond is polar covalent, Pb-F bond is ionic!
Despite all of this, the name for the HF compound follows the conventions for naming an ionic compound! Don't you love those exceptions to rules?!?
Here are a couple videos about naming ionic and covalent compounds.
videos from: Noel Pauller
