why are ionic bonds brittle
Ionic solids are brittle and crack when stress is applied .This is because there are inter-ionic forces of attraction b/w the ion of the solids..When stress is applied the sim â¦ ilarly charged ions come in interaction to each other and forces of repulsion are developed b/w the ions and the solid is thus cracked.....es. This is due to the attractions between the positive and negative ions. That is why ionic compounds have high boiling and tend to be more brittle than materials containing â¦ only covalently bonded atoms.