Chemistry SAT question

<p>Which strong acids and strong bases are covalent? Of course, the strong acids and strong bases will dissociate in water, but not all of them are necessarily purely ionic in nature. For the Chemistry SAT, which of the strong acids/bases would be considered to be covalent?</p>

<p>I think strong molecular acids (e.g. H2SO4 and HNO3) tend to be more covalent and strong binary acids (e.g. HCl, HBr, and HI) tend to be more ionic. Technically, all strong acids are ionic in water since the component ions dissolve… so I dunno. I think you should decide for yourself based on the differences in the electronegativites of the component ions because there’s a whole spectrum between covalent and ionic bonding.</p>

<p>Btw, you should look at this:
[Is</a> HCl ionic or covalent? - Yahoo! Answers](<a href=“Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”>Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos)</p>

<p>The truth is that bonds aren’t very clear cut, and while a bond with an electronegativity difference of 1.7+ is technically ionic; the bond can possess ionic qualities if the difference is a bit less than 1.7 and possess covalent qualities if the difference is a bit mroe than 1.7. Many of the strong acids, HClO4, HI, HBr, HCl, HNO3, H2SO4 are all covalently bonded when they’re in their gaseous states. However, in water their qualities are more ionic as the H+ ion (which is metallic to a degree) completely dissociates and hydrolyses with the H2O to create H3O+. </p>

<p>I hope this helps.</p>

<p>Okay. Thanks.
I also have another question. What lab set-ups do we need to know?</p>

<p>Inorganic acids are molecular unless they are aqueous. They are therefore technically not ionic, but they dissociate in water. Ionic requires complete transfer of electrons, and gaseous HCl or H2SO4 for example would have covalent not ionic bonds.</p>

<p>However, if you are talking about “which acid has covalent bonds?” and the choices are something like “HCl, HI, HBr, H2SO4”, some sources would say only H2SO4 has covalent bonds, because any polyatomic ion (such as SO4^2-) is essentially a charged molecule. Luckily, it is more often they would ask “which substance has both ionic and covalent bonds?” and the choices might be “NaCl, CH4, Li2SO4, N2”, with Li2SO4 being the right answer.</p>

<p>I suggest you stick with studying College Board material to make sure you know what <em>they</em> think about the subject. As Harrovian said, it’s a bit tricky.</p>

<p>Okay. But how strong are coordinate covalent bonds compared to the other intramolecular forces? Also, what lab setups do we need to know?</p>

<p>Coordinate covalent bonds have the same strength as regular covalent bonds! They’re just formed slightly differently. But their strength (like regular covalent bonds) depends on the EN difference between the two atoms that it connects!</p>

<p>Hope this helped!</p>

<p>I would love to know lab setups as well!</p>

<p>Anyone find any released tests?</p>

<p>HCl is considered polar covalent</p>