Is CaCi2 ionic or covalent

Answer 1

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you meant to put CaCl2 rather than CaCi2. (since, to my knowledge, there is no element with the symbol Ci).

CaCl2, Calcium Chloride, is ionic.

When trying to determine if a chemical bond is ionic or covalent, you have to determine the difference in the electronegativity of the two atoms involved.

Ca (Calcium) has an electronegativity of 1.

Cl has an electronegativity of 3.16.

The difference is 2.16.

As a rule of thumb, a difference greater than 1.9 (some sources online may vary slightly) tells you that the bond is ionic.

What this basically means is that the electrons that are being 'shared' to form the bond between the two atoms, really spend MOST of their time around the atom with the higher electronegativity.

Keep in mind that electronegativity is a measure of an atom's affinity for an electron. Basically, how much pull that atom has on the electron. The higher the electronegativity, the greater the pull.

So, when you put such an atom in water, the two atoms come apart with one of the atoms LOSING an electron to the other atom which then has an extra electron. Thus one of the atoms ends up being positive and the other ends up being negative.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

CaCl2 is ionic. It is composed of calcium cations (Ca2+) and chloride anions (Cl-), which are held together by electrostatic forces of attraction.