why Ionic crystals are highly brittle?
Answers
Answer
Ionic compounds are formed by ion, by complete transfer of electrons. Therefore, ionic compounds are made of positive and negative charged ions.
Ionic compounds are hard because of strong electrostatic attraction between ions. This makes the compound bind with strong bond.
If they are hard, they should be malleable instead of brittle. The reason that they are brittle is that when pressure is applied on the crystals of a ionic compound, the ions having opposite charges come closer, causing electrostatic repulsion. Now, due to these repulsion, the particles try to get away from each other, but due to pressure they are coming closer. Hence, they break.
Answer:
Ionic crystals are highly brittle because of tight packing lattices, say, the positive and negative ions are strongly attached among themselves