Why is ionic bond non directional?

1 Answer
anor277
Feb 18, 2018

Because electrostatic repulsion and attraction are non-directional...

Explanation:

Electrostatic interaction depends on Coulomb's famous inverse square law...

#F_"electrostatic"=k_e(q_1q_2)/r_"1,2"^2#

#k_e="Coulomb's constant"#, which I have long forgotten but the interwebz says, #k_e= 8.99×10^9* N* m^2 *C^(−2))#, #r_"1,2"# is the distance between the point charges, and #q_1, q_2# are the magnitudes of those charges in #"Coulombs"#...

In an ionic lattice, of course there are both attractive, and repulsive interactions due to interactions between ions of the opposite charge, and between ions of the same charge, but if you sum them all up, the which can certainly be done quantitatively, attractive interaction wins...and the ions are held together in an electrostatic lattice.

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