Skip to main content
Geosciences LibreTexts

13.4: Pauling’s Rules

  • Page ID
    18350
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    In 1929, Linus Pauling summarized five general rules that apply to ionic structures. The rules, now called Pauling’s Rules, provide a convenient framework for examining some details of ionic structures (Box 13-4).

    Definition: Pauling’s Rules

    • Rule 1. Radius Ratio Principle: Cation-anion distances are equal to the sum of their effective ionic radii, and cation coordination numbers are determined by the ratio of cation to anion radii.
    • Rule 2. Electrostatic Valency Principle: The strength of an ionic bond is equal to ionic charge divided by coordination number.
    • Rule 3. Sharing of edges or faces by coordinating polyhedra is inherently unstable.
    • Rule 4. Cations of high valence and small coordination number tend not to share anions with other cations.
    • Rule 5. Principle of Parsimony: The number of different components in a crystal tends to be small.

    This page titled 13.4: Pauling’s Rules is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Dexter Perkins via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.