Question

The compound gallium phosphide () is a compound semiconductor having mixed ionic and covalent bonding. The electronegativities for and are 1.6 and 2.1 respectively. Calculate the fraction of the bonding that is ionic.

Answer 1

Answer:

$0.08875$

Explanation:

Hello,

In this case, the first step is to compute the difference in the electronegativity for the formed bond between gallium and phosphorous by:

$\Delta E=2.1-1.6\\\\\Delta E=0.5$

Thus, we can compute the percentage of ionic character by:

$\%\ ionic\ character=16\Delta E +3.5 (\Delta E)^2\\\\\%\ ionic\ character=16*0.5+3.5*0.5^2\\\\\%\ ionic\ character=8.875\%$

So the fraction is just:

$\frac{8.875}{100}=0.08875$

Which has sense since gallium phosphide is a non-polar compound.

Regards.