The percent ionic character is a quantity that measure how ionic the bond is. To scale, a perfect ionic bond would have 100% ionic character, while a perfect covalent bond would have 0% ionic character. What makes a bond ionic? An ionic bond is the bonding of a cation and anion together that complete their individual state by reacting their extra valence electrons. The stronger the ionic bond, the greater the electronegativity of the atoms are. Electronegativity is the ability of the atom to attract electrons toward itself. So, the formula for percent ionic character is:
percent ionic character = [tex](1- e^{-( \frac{1}{4})( x^{F} - x^{Be} )} )*100[/tex]
where
x^Be is the electronegativity of Beryllium equal to 1.57
x^F is the electronegativity of Fluorine equal to 3.98
percent ionic character = [tex](1- e^{-( \frac{1}{4})(3.98-1.57)} )*100[/tex]
percent ionic character = 45.26%
