Question

Which is more covalent $\mathrm{LiCl}\mathrm{or}\mathrm{CsCl}$?

Answer 1

1. Covalent characters are determined using Fajan's rule.
2. Fajan's rule is based on the size of the ion, the charge on the cation, and the electronic configuration.
3. But in most cases, we easily determine the covalent characters by the size of the ion and charge on the cation.
4. Covalent characters are mostly found when the size of anions is greater than the size of cations.
5. If the charge on cation is much bigger then covalent characters increases.
6. Lithium and Cesium are the cations and Chlorine is the anion.
7. If the cation is smaller the charge density on the cation is found to be more.
8. Higher is the charge density, the greater will be the polarizing power and so the covalent characters increases.
9. The charge density of Lithium is much higher compared with Cesium because Lithium is a small cation.
10. This implies that Lithium has more charge density so it shows maximum covalent characters.