Why nacl is not a molecule

Compounds contain two or more different elements. Water is a molecule because it contains molecular bonds. Water is also a compound because it is made from more than one kind of element oxygen and hydrogen. If you like, you can say that water is a molecular compound. Something like table salt NaCl is a compound because it is made from more than one kind of element sodium and chlorine , but it is not a molecule because the bond that holds NaCl together is an ionic bond.

If you like, you can say that sodium chloride is an ionic compound. Oxygen in the atmosphere is a molecule because it contains molecular bonds. It is not a compound because it is made from atoms of only one element - oxygen.

This type of molecule is called a diatomic molecule, a molecule made from two atoms of the same type. What is the simplest way of explaining what atoms, elements, compounds and mixtures are? Questions and Answers a compound and a molecule? Survey Manual. This diagram shows the positive and negative parts of a water molecule. It also depicts how a charge, such as on an ion Na or Cl, for example can interact with a water molecule. At the molecular level, salt dissolves in water due to electrical charges and due to the fact that both water and salt compounds are polar, with positive and negative charges on opposite sides in the molecule.

The bonds in salt compounds are called ionic because they both have an electrical charge—the chloride ion is negatively charged and the sodium ion is positively charged. Likewise, a water molecule is ionic in nature, but the bond is called covalent, with two hydrogen atoms both situating themselves with their positive charge on one side of the oxygen atom, which has a negative charge. When salt is mixed with water, the salt dissolves because the covalent bonds of water are stronger than the ionic bonds in the salt molecules.

The positively-charged side of the water molecules are attracted to the negatively-charged chloride ions and the negatively-charged side of the water molecules are attracted to the positively-charged sodium ions. Essentially, a tug-of-war ensues with the water molecules winning the match.

Water molecules pull the sodium and chloride ions apart, breaking the ionic bond that held them together. After the salt compounds are pulled apart, the sodium and chloride atoms are surrounded by water molecules, as this diagram shows.