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

(b) P4O6 or Ga2O3

Video transcript

All right. Hi, everyone. So this question is asking us which compound has a more or has more ionic character. A S 205 or G A 203. Option A says A S 205 has a more ionic character. Option B says G A 203 has a more ionic character. And option C says that A S 205 and G A 203 have the same ionic character. So in this case, right, both compounds haven't happened to be oxides because they both contain oxygen. Now, when it comes to oxides or any compound in general, recall that compounds formed between metals and non metals tend to be more ionic, right? And the reason for this is because the difference in electronegativity between the metal and the nonmetal increases. So to understand which of the two compounds has a more ionic character, we have to consider whether or not arsenic or gallium is the more metallic element because the more metallic element is going to have a greater difference in electron negativity with oxygen making the compound more ionic. Now, the first thing I want to point out here is that arsenic and gallium are both found in period four of the periodic table or in other words, the fourth row. Right. So both arsenic and gallium belong to period four. However, gallium is found in group three a of the periodic table, whereas arsenic is found in group 58. Now, because gallium and arsenic are in the same period of the periodic table. Recall that metallic character actually tends to decrease as you go across the period or in other words going from left to right, right. And that makes sense considering that non metals are found on the right side of the periodic table. So as you go towards the right, the metallic character decreases. So because gallium is to the left of arsenic, gallium is more metallic than arsenic. And that makes sense because recall that arsenic is actually a metalloid whereas gallium is in fact a metal. So here, right, because gallium is more metallic than arsenic, it's going to have a larger difference in electron negativity between itself and oxygen, meaning that the oxide formed with gallium is going to have more of an ionic character than the oxide formed with arsenic. So our answer here is going to be option B in the multiple choice because G A 203 has a more ionic character and there you have it. So with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful