Final answer:
The salts are ranked based on ionic charges and sizes, with sodium chloride having the lowest lattice energy and aluminum oxide the highest.
Step-by-step explanation:
To rank the salts lithium chloride (LiCl), calcium oxide (CaO), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), sodium chloride (NaCl), and barium oxide (BaO) in order of increasing lattice energy, we need to consider the charges of the ions and their sizes, as lattice energy is directly proportional to the product of the ionic charges and inversely proportional to the internuclear distance. Here is how they can be ranked based on these factors:
LiCl (Li+ and Cl−): Low charge, relatively small ions.
NaCl (Na+ and Cl−): Similar to LiCl but Na+ has a larger ionic radius than Li+, which results in lower lattice energy compared to LiCl.
CaO (Ca2+ and O2−): Higher charges on ions, but smaller than Ba2+ of BaO.
BaO (Ba2+ and O2−): Same charge as CaO but larger ions because Ba2+ is larger than Ca2+.
Al2O3 (Al3+ and O2−): Highest charges and small ionic sizes lead to the highest lattice energy.
Therefore, the order of increasing lattice energy is NaCl < LiCl < CaO < BaO < Al2O3.