Question

Ionic compounds are usually crystalline and solid give reason

Answer 1

5 answers · Chemistry 

 Best Answer

The ionic bond (between positive and negative ions) is quite strong, and these compounds form a large "lattice" crystal many millions of ions in size. Being held together by strong bonds, this mega-ionic crystal is not easy to "melt" (ie., the ions can't easily be separated, their bonds broken) by heat, thus they are solid at room temperature. Hardness of the crystal is also due to strong interlinked bonding. 

Water is able to weaken the bonds of some ionic salts by attaching to ions with the slight positive and slight negative ends of the water molecule, then surround free ions with water molecules, "dissolving" the salt. Even so, the crystal arrangement of some ionic salts means they have only low solubility.