What type of bond character is present in sodium chloride (NaCl)?

• A. Ionic bond
• B. Covalent nonpolar
• C. Hydrogen bond
• D. Metallic bond

Answer: (A)

Ionic bonding forms when a metal donates electrons to a nonmetal, creating positively and negatively charged ions that attract each other. In sodium chloride, sodium donates its one valence electron to chlorine, giving Na+ and Cl−. The strong electrostatic attraction between these opposite charges holds the compound together in a crystal lattice. This differs from a covalent nonpolar bond, which would involve sharing electrons between atoms of similar electronegativity rather than forming ions. Hydrogen bonds are weaker interactions between molecules that involve hydrogen, not the primary bond in a salt lattice. Metallic bonds involve a sea of delocalized electrons in metals, not ions in a compound like NaCl.