is it possible for salt crystals like nacl to have positive and negative ions that are not held by an electrostatic attraction

Question

Has this ever been answered? I need to know for a science fair project.

Answer 1

If they are like NaCl, you will have an alkali metal like Na giving up an electron to a halogen like Cl, and you will be left with a positively ionized alkali atom and a negatively ionized halogen atom.  There will always be electrostatic attraction between the oppositely charged ions.