Bring two atoms close. The rest is chemistry.
Drag the metal toward the non-metal. When they touch, an electron transfers. The resulting ions snap together into a lattice you can spin and zoom.
Everything responds to your cursor.
No hidden menus. The model is the interface.
Pick a pair
Choose a metal + non-metal combination from the dropdown or click a tile. The stage rebuilds with the correct valence electrons.
Drag them together
Click and drag the metal atom toward the non-metal. When the orbits touch, an electron transfers from the metal to the non-metal.
Watch the ions form
The metal becomes a smaller, positively charged cation. The non-metal becomes a larger, negatively charged anion. The readout updates live.
Spin the lattice
Once the ions form, a 3D crystal lattice appears. Drag to rotate it, scroll to zoom, and hover any ion to see its charge and position.
What you're actually looking at.
The model shows three real physical facts, not just pretty motion.
Electron transfer
The metal loses valence electrons to achieve a noble-gas core. The non-metal gains them to complete its outer shell. The arrow shows the electron jumping.
Ion size change
Losing electrons shrinks the radius — fewer electrons, same nuclear charge. Gaining electrons expands it — more electron-electron repulsion.
Lattice formation
Once ions form, they pack into a repeating 3D grid. Each cation touches as many anions as possible, maximizing the electrostatic attraction that holds the crystal together.
Questions people actually ask.
The short answers — with the long ones one tap away.
What is an ionic bond?+
An ionic bond is the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions — a positively charged cation (usually a metal that has lost electrons) and a negatively charged anion (usually a non-metal that has gained electrons). It is not a shared pair of electrons like a covalent bond; it is a full transfer of one or more electrons followed by Coulombic attraction.
Why do atoms transfer electrons instead of sharing them?+
Atoms transfer electrons when the energy cost of removing an electron from one atom is more than compensated by the energy released when the other atom gains it. Metals have low ionization energies and readily lose electrons; non-metals have high electron affinities and readily gain them. The result is two ions with full outer shells.
What is a cation and what is an anion?+
A cation is a positively charged ion formed when an atom loses one or more electrons. An anion is a negatively charged ion formed when an atom gains one or more electrons. In ionic bonding, metals form cations and non-metals form anions.
How do you predict the charge on an ion?+
Main-group metals lose electrons to reach the nearest noble-gas configuration — group 1 metals form 1+ ions, group 2 form 2+ ions, and aluminum forms 3+ ions. Non-metals gain electrons to reach the next noble gas — group 17 form 1− ions, group 16 form 2− ions, and group 15 form 3− ions.
What is a crystal lattice and why does it form?+
A crystal lattice is a regular, repeating three-dimensional arrangement of ions. It forms because the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions is strongest when each ion is surrounded by as many oppositely charged neighbors as possible. The lattice is the lowest-energy arrangement of the ions.
What is lattice energy?+
Lattice energy is the energy released when one mole of an ionic solid forms from its gaseous ions. It measures the strength of the ionic bonding in the lattice. Lattice energy increases with higher ion charges and decreases with larger ionic radii.
Is this tool free, and where does my data go?+
It's completely free and runs entirely in your browser — nothing you build or click is uploaded, logged, or sent to any server. No account, no sign-up, no limits.