Thus BeF2 is of most covalent character.
Anyways, covalent/ionic character is a bit tricky to figure out; we measure the difference in electronegativity of two elements bonding together and we use the following rule of thumb: if the charge is 0 (or a little more), the bond is non-polar covalent; if the charge is > 0 but < 2.0 (some references say 1.7), the bond is polar covalent; if the charge is > 2.0 then the bond is ionic. Covalent character refers to smaller electronegativity difference while ionic character refers to greater electronegativity difference.
Now, notice all of our bonds are with F, fluorine, which has the highest electronegativity of 3.98. This means that to determine character we need to consider the electronegativities of the other elements -- whichever has the greatest electronegativity has the least difference and most covalent character.
Na, sodium, has electronegativity of 0.93, so our difference is ~3 -- meaning our bond is ionic. Ca, calcium, has 1.00, leaving our difference to again be ~3 and therefore the bond is ionic. Be, beryllium, has 1.57 yielding a difference of ~2.5, meaning we're still dealing with ionic bond. Cs, cesium, has 0.79, meaning our difference is again ~3 and therefore again our compound is of ionic bond. Lastly, we have Sr, strontium, with an electronegativity of 0.95 and therefore again a difference of roughly 3 and an ionic bond.
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When we increase the surface area of an object, more atoms are exposed. Since more atoms are exposed, the atoms can react faster, and this is why the rate of a reaction increases when the surface area increases.
For example, lets say we want to heat a potato. If we just put the whole potato in the microwave, it will take a long time for the potato to get thoroughly heated. However, if we chop the potato into smaller pieces, we will observe that it gets heated much faster. This is because we increased the surface area of the potato, which resulted in more potato atoms to be exposed to the heat, and caused the reaction to be faster.
