Answer to Question #139007 in Chemistry for Ashish Anand

Question

(i) Why is Sodium kept immersed in Kerosene oil? [5]
(ii) Why do ionic compounds have high melting points?

Answer 1

(i) Sodium and Potassium are highly reactive metals and react vigorously with the oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture present in the air such that it may even cause a fire. To prevent this explosive reaction, Sodium is kept immersed in kerosene because Sodium doesn't react with kerosene.

(ii) Ionic compounds are held together by electrostatic forces between the oppositely charged ions. As the ionic lattice contains such a large number of ions, a lot of energy is needed to overcome this ionic bonding so ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points.