Question

James and Janie suggest that they can organize these compounds using a different property. Choose a property other than state of matter and organize the compounds based on this property. List the property and the compounds that exhibit this property.

Answer 1

Compounds can be organized by physical properties such as melting point, density, solubility, and boiling point.

Step-by-step explanation:

When organizing compounds based on a property other than the state of matter, we can choose melting point, density, solubility in water, or boiling point. These are all examples of physical properties which can be observed without changing the compound's chemical composition. For instance, if we choose density, we can organize the compounds from least dense to most dense. An example of this organization would be if we had compounds like helium gas (very low density), ethanol (moderate density), and lead(II) chloride (high density).

Understanding these properties requires looking at the types of chemical bonding within the compounds. Molecular compounds, or covalent compounds, tend to have lower melting and boiling points compared to ionic compounds due to weaker intermolecular forces.

Consequently, ionic compounds often have higher densities and are typically more soluble in water than molecular compounds. By looking at the bonding, we can predict certain properties such as whether a substance will conduct electricity; ionic compounds conduct electricity when molten or in solution, while molecular compounds generally do not.