One chlorine (Cl) atom combines with one sodium (Na) atom. How many potassium (K) atoms combines with a chlorine atom?

1 Answer
anor277
Dec 2, 2015

Only the 1 potassium atom! Look at the position of potassium compared to sodium in the Periodic Table

Explanation:

#"Sodium chloride, potassium chloride, rubidium chloride,"# #"caesium chloride,"# all have a formula of #MCl#, where #M# is the alkali metal. All the alkali metals have similar electronic configurations; thus they have the same type of interaction with the chloride ion, i.e. #Cl^-# (and the same interaction with all of the halogens).

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