Asked by winnie

Use the image to answer the question.

Periodic table showing electronegativity of elements, increasing left to right and bottom to top.

The oxygen atom found in sodium sulfate, NaSO4
, forms bonds with both sodium and sulfur. Which bond(s) formed by oxygen would be considered ionic in character?

(1 point)
Responses

The sulfur-oxygen bond, but not the sodium-oxygen bond
The sulfur-oxygen bond, but not the sodium-oxygen bond

Both the sodium-oxygen bond and the sulfur-oxygen bond
Both the sodium-oxygen bond and the sulfur-oxygen bond

The sodium-oxygen bond, but not the sulfur-oxygen bond
The sodium-oxygen bond, but not the sulfur-oxygen bond

Neither the sodium-oxygen bond nor the sulfur-oxygen bond

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
The sodium-oxygen bond, but not the sulfur-oxygen bond.

Reason: Na (a metal) and O have a large electronegativity difference so Na–O is ionic (Na+ and SO4^2−). S–O bonds are covalent (polar covalent), not ionic.