Question

The city council of a small town wanted to add fluoride to their water so that all the residents would have

healthier teeth. The mayor had read that ionic compounds must be used to get the fluoride into water. He
looked up fluorine containing compounds and came up with the following list.
NaF
NFZ
SIF
CaF2
NHF
Using academic vocabulary in paragraph form, discuss the following:
Explain which compound(s) could produce fluoride ions in the water. In your response, be sure to include:
which of the listed compounds are ionic and which are covalent.
• how ionic and covalent compounds are different.
why only ionic compounds would produce fluoride in water.

Answer 1

Answer: NaF is ionic. NF3 is covalent. SiF4 is ionic. CaF2 is Ionic and NH4F is also ionic. Ionic compounds transfer electrons whereas covalent compounds share electrons hence the word "co". Also, ionic compounds are formed with metal and nonmetal. Where a covalent is with 2 nonmetals. Only ionic compounds would produce fluoride in water because ionic compounds can dissolve in water and covalent compounds cant.