Inorganic reactions

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Please could you provide me some background information on hydrated sodium carbonate, such as what type of bonds it has.

Ulex replies ...
Sodium carbonate is available in a number of states of hydration. The commonest are the anhydrous form, Na₂CO₃ and the fully hydrated form Na₂CO₃.10H₂O. The structure is essentially ionic, consisting of a lattice of ions Na⁺ and CO₃^2- with, in the hydrated crystals, water molecules mostly clustered round the sodium ion with a smaller number attached to the carbonate ion.
 
The carbonate ion itself has a central carbon atom with three oxygen atoms covalently bonded to it at the corners of a triangle. The ion has all four atoms in a flat plane.

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updated: 11 May 2006