The type of inorganic solid formed by the combination of a metal and a non-metal is called an ionic solid. Ionic solids consist of positively charged metal cations and negatively charged non-metal anions held together by strong electrostatic forces, also known as ionic bonds.An example of an ionic solid is sodium chloride NaCl , commonly known as table salt. In this compound, sodium Na is a metal that loses one electron to become a positively charged cation Na+ , while chlorine Cl is a non-metal that gains one electron to become a negatively charged anion Cl- . The electrostatic attraction between the Na+ and Cl- ions forms an ionic bond, resulting in the formation of the ionic solid NaCl.Sodium chloride belongs to the category of ionic solids because it is composed of a metal sodium and a non-metal chlorine that are bonded together through ionic bonds, forming a crystalline lattice structure with alternating positive and negative ions.