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Sulfur is the 10th most abundant element on Earth and is an essential element in biological systems. Sulfur can form a variety of chemical compounds and will react with nearly every element except Au, Pt, Ir, Te, and the noble gases. A list of several common inorganic compounds of sulfur is given in Table 1.Table 1 Selected Common Inorganic Sulfur Compounds
Reduction of elemental sulfur by bacteria during anaerobic digestion produces the toxic, foul-smelling gas H₂S. Oxidation of elemental sulfur via combustion or volcanic processes yields gases of SO₂ and SO₃. When dissolved in water, both SO₂ and SO₃ produce acidic solutions, and SO₃ reacts with water to form the acid H₂SO₄. Neutralization of H₂SO₄ can provide a variety of salts, including Na₂SO₄.Elemental sulfur can also react with halogen gases to form sulfur halides such as the industrially important insulator gas SF₆ and the synthetic reagent S₂Cl₂. S₂Cl₂ facilitates the formation of other sulfur compounds. For example, reacting S₂Cl₂ with NH₃ produces the sulfur pnictide S₄N₄.
-Which of the following sulfur compounds from Table 1 has a chemical structure that contains both ionic and covalent bonds?

Question

Passage
Sulfur is the 10th most abundant element on Earth and is an essential element in biological systems. Sulfur can form a variety of chemical compounds and will react with nearly every element except Au, Pt, Ir, Te, and the noble gases. A list of several common inorganic compounds of sulfur is given in Table 1.Table 1 Selected Common Inorganic Sulfur Compounds

Reduction of elemental sulfur by bacteria during anaerobic digestion produces the toxic, foul-smelling gas H₂S. Oxidation of elemental sulfur via combustion or volcanic processes yields gases of SO₂ and SO₃. When dissolved in water, both SO₂ and SO₃ produce acidic solutions, and SO₃ reacts with water to form the acid H₂SO₄. Neutralization of H₂SO₄ can provide a variety of salts, including Na₂SO₄.Elemental sulfur can also react with halogen gases to form sulfur halides such as the industrially important insulator gas SF₆ and the synthetic reagent S₂Cl₂. S₂Cl₂ facilitates the formation of other sulfur compounds. For example, reacting S₂Cl₂ with NH₃ produces the sulfur pnictide S₄N₄.
-Which of the following sulfur compounds from Table 1 has a chemical structure that contains both ionic and covalent bonds?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

11ecba2d_1231_a23b_a3bf_e332d75f6567_MD0008_00 Ionic bonds are formed between two atoms when the valence electrons from one atom are transferred to another atom, resulting in the formation of charged ions held together by strong electrostatic attractions. In contrast, covalent bonds are made between two atoms by sharing electrons through the end-to-end overlap of atomic orbitals. The type of bond that forms between two atoms depends on the relative difference in electronegativity between the atoms. A large difference in electronegativity promotes ionic bond formation, but a small difference in electronegativity promotes covalent bond formation. As a result, ionic bonds generally form between a metal and a nonmetal whereas covalent bonds generally form between two nonmetals; however, some exceptions do exist because the actual ionic character of a bond exists on a continuum. Using the metal and nonmetal classifications of the elements as generalization for determining bonding types in the four compounds given in this question, only potassium sulfate (K₂SO₄) contains a metal. Therefore, potassium must form a metal-nonmetal (ionic) bond in the structure in addition to the nonmetal-nonmetal (covalent) bonds present between the nonmetal atoms in the structure. (Choices A, B, and C) Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), and sulfur trioxide (SO₃) each contain only nonmetals in their chemical structures. Although the electronegativity differences between some of the atoms in these compounds produce polar covalent bonds with a dipole, the differences are not large enough to make these bonds ionic. Educational objective: The type of bond formed between two atoms depends on the relative difference in electronegativity between the atoms. Atoms with a large difference in electronegativity (usually a metal and a nonmetal) form ionic bonds. Atoms with a small difference in electronegativity (usually two nonmetals) form covalent bonds.

Passage Sulfur Is the 10th Most Abundant Element on Earth and and Is