Eli5: Why is Manganese Dioxide (MnO2) not soluble?

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Why is Manganese Dioxide (MnO2) not soluble in water or covalent substances such as cloroform?

In: Chemistry

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because it has a strong covalent bond without much polarity.

Water is what’s called a polar molecule, since the oxygen exerts a stronger pull on the shared electrons then the hydrogen atoms, the oxygen atom is slightly negative, and the hydrogen atom is slightly positive.

This same effect happens in things like sugar and ethanol, which also have some O-H bonds. These polar molecules then all have intermolecular attractive forces between them, which allows whatever your dissolving to get pulled into and spread out through the water.

MnO2 doesn’t have these properties, and acts the same something like Rust, Fe02 would, it doesn’t do much.

Compounds like NaCl (Salt) are soluble because it is an ionic bond that causes the Na to be positive and Cl to be negative, allowing the Na and the Cl to be attracted to water molecules.