What is the type of intermolecular attraction that occurs between the sodium ions and the water molecules?

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 19, 2017

This is an #"ion-dipole"# interaction.

Explanation:

When sodium chloride dissolves in water, we represent the reaction in this way:

#NaCl(s) + "excess water"rarrNa^(+)(aq) + Cl^(-)(aq)#

The #Na^+(aq)# species is the aquated sodium ion, which is probably #[Na{(OH)_2}_6]^+#; the #Cl^(-)(aq)# ion is something similar. This is quite properly regarded as a chemical reaction in that strong bonds have been broken, and new ion-dipole bonds and new substances have been formed.

Related questions
See all questions in How Intermolecular Forces Affect Phases of Matter
Impact of this question
5178 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License