Why dose sodium oxide have a high melting point?
Sodium oxide has a formula of Na2O. Since sodium is a metal and oxygen is a non metal, sodium oxide is an ionic species. Sodium will lose an electron to form a cation and oxygen will gain 2 electrons to form anion. These ions will be arranged in an ionic lattice structure. There is a strong attractive force between these oppositely charged ions, which require a lot of energy to break lots of these bonds to melt the lattice structure. This is why sodium oxide has a high melting point.
Related Chemistry A Level answers
All answers ▸What key factors would you use to analyse a high resolution proton NMR spectrum
What is a buffer, and how does it respond to the addition of acid or alkali?
Does Mg or Al have the higher first ionisation energy? Explain your answer.
Explain why first ionisation energy decreases down a group.