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Explain:- Ionic solids are hard and brittle.

The reason why ionic compounds are brittle is because the ions in the compound are already held rigidly in place in a lattice due to the strong electrostatic forces of attraction in between the cations and the anions as well as the repulsion in the ions with like charges . However, if a large enough force is

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The reason why ionic compounds are brittle is because the ions in the compound are already held rigidly in place in a lattice due to the strong electrostatic forces of attraction in between the cations and the anions as well as the repulsion in the ions with like charges . However, if a large enough force isapplied along a certain plane, this causes the ions to shift along that layer,displacing that layer with respect to the next, and there will hence be a repulsion between like charges within the ionic compound. This repulsion will shatter the crystal lattice of the ionic compound..

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what is nuclues
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Ionic solids are brittle and hard because the electrostatic attractions in the solid again hold the ions in definite positions. The electrostatic attractions must be overcome to move the ions. When the ions in the solid are shifted by some very strong force the positions of ions shift so that like charged ions are close together. This results in strong repulsions and the like charged ions move apart. The solid shatters and does not simply deform like a metal. Try crushing a few grains of salt in the bowl of a spoon with another spoon. The particles do not deform, they shatter.
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