Correspondence with Sir Lawrence Bragg regarding Evidence for the Ionic Bond
Abstract
Working with his father, Lawrence Bragg solved the first crystal structures of simple inorganic compounds in 1913. Many chemists trace the origin of the ionic model for bonding to these Nobel-Prize-winning studies. An exchange of letters between the author and Sir Lawrence Bragg in 1968, reproduced in this paper, confirms that ionic bonding in sodium chloride, for example, was not an obvious and immediate consequence of the convincing experimental evidence for its crystal structure. Rather, a fully developed ionic model for bonding did not appear until the early 1920s. This model was an outgrowth of advances in quantum theory of atoms and bonding and of new ideas about how to partition the interatomic distance between ions.
Repository Citation
Craig, Norman C. 2002. "Correspondence with Sir Lawrence Bragg regarding Evidence for the Ionic Bond." Journal of Chemical Education 79(8): 953.
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Publication Date
1-1-2002
Publication Title
Journal of Chemical Education
Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed079p953
Keywords
Ionic bonding
Language
English
Format
text
