Question #d5404

1 Answer
Oct 26, 2015

For ionic bonds: You should familiarize yourself with the common oxidation states of the elements.

For covalent bonds: Know the number of valence electrons.

Explanation:

There really is no shortcut.

For ionic bonds (which is mostly a bond between metal and nonmetal), you can either memorize the most common oxidation states or you can utilize the table below as your guide.
http://www.drcruzan.com/OxidationNumbers.htmlhttp://www.drcruzan.com/OxidationNumbers.html

The rule for ionic bonds is to "exchange the superscripts for the subscripts".

For example:

Be^"2+" Cl^-1 = BeCl_2

H^+ O^"2-" = H_2O

K^+ SO_4^"2-" = K_2SO_4

Al^"3+" SO_4^"2-" = Al_2(SO_4)_3

For covalent bonds, it's a bit tricky since you have to know the number of valence electrons plus the elements can share at most six electrons between them.