Lesson Plan

Lesson: Rate of Reaction

Aim :

1. To study the polarity of bonds and of molecules.

2. To study the existence of covalent properties in ionic compounds.
3. To study the existence of ionic properties in covalent compounds.

Learning Outcomes :

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to :

1. define electronegativity.

2. explain that the degree of displacement, and hence the polarity of a covalent bond,
depends on the difference in electronegativity between the two atoms involved.

3. determine the nett polarity of molecules based on the geometry of their molecules.

4. identify some ionic compounds that exhibit covalent character and some covalent
molecules that exhibit ionic character.

Assumed prior knowledge :

Students should already :

1. be familiar with the concept of ionic and covalent bonding.

2. be familiar with the Lewis structures of simple molecules.
3. know how to deduce the shape of simple molecules using the VSEPR theory.

Underlying Principles

1. Making the invisible, visible.

2. Enabling students to know what to look for.

Time taken to complete the activities : 80 minutes

Differentiation

Questions in the student notes are designed to enable all students to complete the activity.
The pop-up answers are provided for the students to view when they have considered their
responses. Worksheet questions include questions that require recall, understanding and
application of the new concepts learned.
© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 1 of 6
Development of Lesson :

No. Steps Strategy Resources

1 Set Induction. • Teacher to get students to point out the • plastic ruler
(Ascertaining prior differences between ionic bonds and silk cloth
knowledge and covalent bonds and between ions and
introducing lesson molecules.
topic for the day).
• Teacher to demonstrate the deflection of
stream of water using a charged rod and
use this to introduce the concept that
water molecules possess some form of
charges.

• Teacher to introduce lesson objectives for

the day.

2 Student Activity Teacher to go through Activities 1 - 4 • Courseware

with the students.

• Activity 1 : Electronegativity of
elements.
Students get to view the unequal sharing
of bonding electrons by two dissimilar
atoms and learn the concept of
electronegativity. They will also be led to
discover how the electronegativities of
elements change across a period and
down a group.

• Activity 2 : Polar and non-polar bonds.

Students are introduced to the concept of
non-polar and polar covalent bonds. They
will see how dipole notations are used to
represent polar bonds and also get to
compare the polarity of some common
bonds. They will then be able to relate
the polarity of bonds to the difference in
electronegativity between the atoms
involved.

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 2 of 6

 • Activity 3 : Polar and non-polar
molecules
Students get to investigate the concept of
dipole moment, nett dipole and polar
molecules. They will be led to discover
that molecules that have polar bonds can
be non-polar because of their geometry.

• Activity 4 : Covalent character of ionic

bonds.
Students are shown how polarisation of
ions can occur leading to the existence of
covalent character in ionic compounds.
They are also led to relate the degree of
polarisation of ions to the charge density
of the cation present and to the size of
the anion. Finally, students will be able to
relate the % ionic character of polar
bonds to the difference in
electronegativity between the atoms
involved.

3 Evaluation • Students to answer questions in the • Worksheet

student worksheet on their own.

4 Extension activity • Students to go through the extension • Websites

activities on their own. • Reference
books.

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 3 of 6

Worksheet answers

1. Electronegativity of elements.

1.1 Yes.

1.2 Be > Mg > Ca > Ra

1.3 fluorine

1.4 caesium < potassium < lithium < aluminium < carbon < oxygen.

1.5 Atoms of noble gases do not form chemical bonds with other atoms.

2. Polar and non-polar bonds

2.1 (c) Reason: the difference in electronegativity between the two atoms is the greatest
between X and Z.

2.2 a. O2 or Cl2
b. Cl2O
c. Li2O or LiCl

2.3 a. HF

b. CO

c. CO2

The greater the difference in electronegativity, the greater the polarity of the bonds.

2.4 a. The Lewis structure of dichlorine oxide is

xx
x
x
O
oo
oo

Cloo Cl
oo
oo

oo

b. Cl atom has a partial positive charge and O atom has a partial negative charge.

δ -x
x
xx
O
oo
oo

Clo o δ+ Cl δ+
oo
oo

oo

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 4 of 6

3. Polar and non-polar molecules

3.1 a. non-polar
b. polar
c. non-polar
d. polar
e. polar
f. polar

3.2 SnCl2 (V-shape)

Sn
Cl Cl
CH2O (trigonal planar)

H
C O
H
CO2 (linear)

O C O
SnCl2 and CH2O will have permanent dipole.

3.3 a. V-shape.
b. Linear.

3.4 B in BF3 has three bonding pairs of electrons and no lone pair of electrons.
BF3 has a trigonal planar shape where the bond angle is 1200. The bond dipoles
cancel each other out. There is therefore, no nett dipole in the molecule.

N in NF3 has three bonding pairs of electrons and one lone pair of electrons.
NF3 has a trigonal pyramidal shape. The bond dipoles in NF3 do not cancel each
other out. The molecule has a nett dipole moment.

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 5 of 6

4. Covalent character in ionic bonds.

4.1 Mg2+

4.2 Aluminium ion, Al3+ is small and highly charged. As a result, it has a high charge
density and hence, strong polarising power. The Al3+ ion distorts the electron
cloud of the oxide ion to a large extent. Aluminium oxides thus exhibit a degree
of covalent characteristics.

4.3 a. Lithium fluoride (LiF) is more soluble in water and has higher electrical
conductivity than lithium iodide (LiI). F atom is smaller and less
polarisable than I atom. Thus, LiF is an ionic compound, while LiI is an ionic
compound with covalent characteristics.

b. Potassium iodide (KI) is expected to be more soluble in water compared to

lithium iodide (LiI). KI is more ionic than LiI. K+ ion and Li+ ion have the same
charge but K+ ion is bigger than Li+ ion. Thus, the charge density of K+ ion is
less than that of Li+, and so it is less able to polarise the I- ion compared to Li+.

c. KBr is expected to have a higher melting point compared to KI because it is

more ionic (or less covalent) than KI. This is because the smaller Br- ion is less
polarisable compared to the bigger I- ion.

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 6 of 6