{"id":27342,"date":"2025-06-19T22:20:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=27342"},"modified":"2025-06-19T22:20:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:20:30","slug":"which-substance-do-you-expect-to-have-the-greatest-lattice-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/which-substance-do-you-expect-to-have-the-greatest-lattice-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Which substance do you expect to have the greatest lattice energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Which substance do you expect to have the greatest lattice energy: MgF2, CaF2, or ZrO2?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Correct Answer:<\/strong> ZrO\u2082 (Zirconium dioxide)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lattice energy is the amount of energy released when ions in the gaseous state form an ionic solid. It is influenced by two main factors according to Coulomb\u2019s Law<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Charge of the ions<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Distance between the ions (ionic radii)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Mathematically, lattice energy is approximately proportional to:Lattice Energy\u221dq1\u22c5q2r\\text{Lattice Energy} \\propto \\frac{{q_1 \\cdot q_2}}{{r}}Lattice Energy\u221drq1\u200b\u22c5q2\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • q1q_1q1\u200b and q2q_2q2\u200b are the charges on the cation and anion<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • rrr is the distance between the centers of the ions (which relates to the size of the ions)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Now, consider the compounds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • MgF\u2082:<\/strong>
        Magnesium ion: Mg\u00b2\u207a
        Fluoride ion: F\u207b
        Charges: +2 and \u22121<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • CaF\u2082:<\/strong>
        Calcium ion: Ca\u00b2\u207a
        Fluoride ion: F\u207b
        Charges: +2 and \u22121
        (Ca\u00b2\u207a is larger than Mg\u00b2\u207a, so the ions are farther apart than in MgF\u2082)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • ZrO\u2082:<\/strong>
        Zirconium ion: Zr\u2074\u207a
        Oxide ion: O\u00b2\u207b
        Charges: +4 and \u22122
        The product of charges is much larger (+4 \u00d7 \u22122 = \u22128), compared to MgF\u2082 or CaF\u2082 (each has \u22122)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Even though Zr\u2074\u207a is larger than Mg\u00b2\u207a or Ca\u00b2\u207a, the charge effect dominates<\/strong> because the electrostatic attraction is much stronger due to the high ionic charges. The oxide ion also carries a \u22122 charge, contributing further to the attraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        ZrO\u2082 has the highest lattice energy due to the greater ionic charges (Zr\u2074\u207a and O\u00b2\u207b)<\/strong>. The large electrostatic force between these ions more than compensates for any increase in ionic size. This results in a very strong lattice and thus the greatest lattice energy among the three compounds<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Which substance do you expect to have the greatest lattice energy: MgF2, CaF2, or ZrO2? The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Correct Answer: ZrO\u2082 (Zirconium dioxide) Explanation: Lattice energy is the amount of energy released when ions in the gaseous state form an ionic solid. It is influenced by two main factors according to Coulomb\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27347,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27342\/revisions\/27347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}