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Why are there two fluoride ions in magnesium fluoride but only one fluoride ion in lithium fluoride

User Pychopath
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Answer:

Idk

Step-by-step explanation:

User Macpak
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This would be more of a chemistry question. Remember magnesium has a charge of 2+, and would need to hand off its two extra electrons. Fluorine can only take one electron at a time, so there needs to be two fluorines to take one magnesium's 2 electrons.

With lithium, it has a +1 charge, so it has one extra electron, which it can hand off to just 1 fluorine atom.

Another way of looking at this is:
Mg^(2+) + 2
F^(-) = MgF2 (the charges must balance out to zero)


Li^(+) +
F^(-) = LiF (the charges balance out to zero)
User MeowNET
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