Answer to Question #148796 in General Chemistry for Waleed Tahir

Question

Draw all ions in one unit of magnesium chloride, MgCl2, dissolved in water at the atomic level.

Answer 1

When magnesium ions are broken off the solid lattice and go into solution, there is enough attraction between the $2+$ ions and the water molecules to get co-ordinate (dative covalent) bonds formed between the magnesium ions and lone pairs on surrounding water molecules. Hexaaquamagnesium ions are formed , $[Mg(H_2O)_6]^{2+}$