Answer to Question #144569 in General Chemistry for Isurini Sirisena

Question

An element has very high melting and boiling temperatures.
(a) What type of structure is it likely to have?
(b) Which physical property would help you determine whether
the bonding was metallic or covalent? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

An element has very high melting and boiling temperatures.

(a) What type of structure is it likely to have? Giant Covalent structure

(b) Which physical property would help you determine whether

the bonding was metallic or covalent? Explain your answer. Valence electrons. This is because covalent bonds are formed when two atoms share their delocalized electrons in their valence shell. On the other hand, metallic bonds are formed through attraction between the delocalized electrons available in the lattice of the metals.