Which compound in each of the following pairs is more covalent?

(a) PCl₃ or AlF₃

Video transcript

Hello, everyone. Today, we have the following problem which substance sulfur tetra fluoride or silicone tetra fluoride is more covalent. So in each of these cases, the compound formed between two metal, non metals is more covalent. And so if we were to look at their similarities, we see that they both have a fluorine and fluorine is a non metal. So we have to compare the characteristics of sulfur and of silicone, the non metallic character to be more specific. And so according to the periodic table, when we go from left to right, and we go down, so we go left to right across a period and down across a group, the non metallic character will increase and then decrease respectively. Now, with our positions on the periodic table, we have silicone here that is a group for a element. And then we have sulfur, which is a group six A element. And so if we were to look at these two, we see sulfur is the one that is to the most, right? And therefore, we'll have the more non metal character. In other words, it is more covalent. And so we can conclude that Tito a sulfur tetra fluoride is more covalent overall. I hope this helped. And until next time.