Question

Can someone help with this please? My teacher isnt responding to any of mine or my classmates requests for help

"Carbon dioxide and silicon dioxide have the same kind of bonding but one is a gas at room temperature whilst the other is a solid. Explain this observation."

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

Because of their structure . Silica has a chain structure with e one silicon atom bonded to 4 oxygen atoms in the lattice. The structure is a long chain of tightly held atoms and this forms a solid.

The carbon dioxide molecule however as a linear structure and each oxygen atom is bonded by double bonds. These double bonds are not as strong as the Si - O bonds in silica so will not form a chain structure.

Answer 2

CO2 consists of individual molecules with one central carbon atom double bonded to two oxygen atoms. Silicon does not form double bonds with oxygen. CO2 is gas but SiO2 is a solid because SiO2 has a giant molecular structure. CO2 has a simple molecular structure, and because of this, CO2 is gas but SiO2 is solid at room temperature.