 Rather, each species of ion is surrounded by ions of the opposite charge, and the spacing between it and each of the oppositely charged ions near it is the same for all surrounding atoms of the same type.It is thus no longer possible to associate an ion with any specific other single ionized atom near it.This is a situation unlike that in covalent crystals, where covalent bonds between specific atoms are still discernible from the shorter distances between them, as measured via such techniques as X-ray diffraction.