Question

CHEM FINAL PLEASE HELP

On a field trip at the UW Marine Biology Center, Destiny learns that mutiple salt compounds exist in the ocean. While most of the salt compounds are NaCl (sodium chloride), other similar elements form salts in the water. Using the periodic table as a reference, which elements could bond to form a compound most like NaCl?

Question 3 options:

Hydrogen (H) and Oxygen (O)


Potassium (K) and Fluorine (F)


Magnesium (Mg) and Iodine (I)


Lithium (Li) and Sulfur (S)

Answer 1

Potassium (K) and Fluorine (F)

Step-by-step explanation:

A salt is formed with a metal and non-metal element from the periodic table of elements. if you look at the online ptable.com the upper right hand corner of each element shows the valence electrons for each element, and how many are in each shell for that element. Fluorine (F) has 7 valence electrons in its outer most shell, which means there is room for 1 more electron since the second shell can hold a max of 8. Potassium(K) has 1 electron in its outer most shell- which means is can fill in the 1 space available that fluorine has in its outer most shell. Since Potassium(K) is a metal and Fluorine(F) is a non-metal they can form an ionic compound, salt.