COVALENT BONDING 8

1. The stability of an atom, ion, or compound is related to its energy.

2. Lower energy states are more stable
3. Atoms with a complete octet (meaning 8 electrons in the outter most shell)are
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stable because they reach the electron configuration of a noble gas.

Metals and non-metals gain stability by transferring electrons
What is a covalent bond?
A bond formed by sharing valence electrons
Atoms joined by covalent bonds form molecules.
What elements most likely would form covalent bonds?
Those elements that are near each other on the periodic table and between those
non-metallic elements
What is a diatomic formula?
Formula that results when two atoms of the same element share electrons (N2, H2,
O2, F2, Cl2, Br2, I2). They exist this way because these two-atom molecules are
more stable than the individual atoms
How diatomic molecules form?
By the attraction existing between the positive charges in the nucleus and the
electron cloud, however, there needs to be an optimal distance. At a certain
optimal point, the attractive and repulsive forces balance out and a bond forms.
Electrons that are shared are known as paired electrons and electrons that
did not participate in the bond are known as lone pairs.

10. What is a single covalent bond?

Bond formed by a pair (2) of electrons. Represented by a dash (-) or two dots (:); HH or H:H
Group 17: forms single covalent bonds b/c these elements only need 1 electron to
form an octet (Meaning the one electron will complete the 8 since they have 7
valence electrons already)
Group 16: share two electrons and can form two single covalent bonds H- O- H
Group 15: form three covalent bonds (NH3)
Group 14: form four covalent bonds (CH4)

11. What is a sigma bond?

It is a single covalent bond. It is a bond represented by the greek letter . A sigma
bond occurs when the pair of shared electrons is in an area centered between the two
atoms. They are formed when orbitals overlap since the valence electrons overlap.
The orbitals that overlap could be an s with an s; an s orbital with a p orbital or a p
orbital with another p orbital.

12. How do you know if two atoms will form a multiple bond?
Sharing multiple pairs of electrons forms multiple covalent bonds. In general, the
number of valence electrons needed to form an octet equals the number of covalent
bonds that can form. For example, oxygen has 6 valence electrons; it needs two
electrons to form the octet so it can form a double covalent bond.

13. What is a double bond?

Formed by sharing two pairs of electrons

14. What is a triple bond?

Formed by sharing three pairs of electrons

15. What is a pi bond?

It is formed by a multiple covalent bonds including a sigma bond (single bond) and at
least one pi bond; represented by . Pi bonds form when parallel orbitals overlap and
share electrons. The pi bond occupies the space above and below the line that
represents where the two atoms are joined together.

16. What affects the strength of a covalent bond?

The strength depends on the distance at the position of maximum attraction

between the bonded nuclei
Bond length: determined by the sizes of the bonding atoms and the number of
electrons shared. The shorter the bond the stronger the bond
Bond-dissociation energy: energy is released when a bond forms but energy
must be added to break a bond. The energy required to break a specific bond
is called bond-dissociation and is always a positive value
Bond-dissociation value in terms of energy also indicates the strength of the
bond and it is related to the bond length. So, shorter length high bond
dissociation value

Energy: energy is needed to form or break bonds. Bond forming releases

energy, bond breaking needs energy.

17. In terms of energy, what is an endothermic reaction?

Occurs when a greater amount of energy is required to break the existing bonds in the
reactants than is released when the new bonds form in the products

18. In terms of energy, what is an exothermic reaction?

Results when more energy is released during the product formation that it is required
to break the bonds of the reactants
NAMING MOLECULES

19. Binary covalent molecules

Do not use the prefix mono with the first element

The first elements is always named first using the entire elements name
Use prefixes such as mono, di, tri, tetra, etc., to indicate the number of atoms
in the compound
The second element in the formula is named using its root and the ending ide
If using prefixes results in two consecutive vowels, one of the vowels is
dropped to avoid an awkward pronunciation. Monoxide instead of mono0xide.

20. Naming acids

If a compound produces hydrogen ions (H+) in solution is an acid.

Binary acids: made up hydrogen and one other element Ex. HCl. Naming the
first word by using the prefix hydro to name the hydrogen and using the
root of the second element chlor plus the suffix ic. So HCL (hydrogen
chloride) is known as hydro chloric acid. If a polyatomic ion is used HCN the
name will be hydrocyanic acid
Oxyacids: identify the oxyanion. An acid that has a hydrogen atom and an
oxyanion. HNO3 . If the polyatomic ion ends in ate change ate for ic. Ex. NO3
nitrate to nitric. Add at the end the word acid so HNO3 Nitric acid

21. Molecular Structures. Show the relative position of atoms within a molecule

Structural formula uses letters and symbols and bonds to show the position of
the atoms.
Molecular Formula

H2O

Structural Formula

Ball and stick

H-O-H

Lewis Structures. Refer to your composition notebook for samples

Polyatomic ion structures. Refer to your composition notebook for samples

Resonance structures: It is possible to have more than one correct Lewis
structure for a molecule. The resonance structures differ only in the position of
the electron pairs, never the atoms position.
Exceptions to the Octet Rule (Refer to handout with examples of each kind)
It occurs when molecules might have an odd number of valence electrons and
be unable to form an octet.
Sub octet, occurs when stable configurations have fewer than eight electrons.
Coordinate covalent bonds form when one atom donates both of the electrons
to be shared with an atom or ion that needs two electrons to form a stable
arrangement.
Expanded octet form when a central atom contains more than eight valence
electrons.

Molecular Shapes
VSEPR MODEL
The shape of the molecule determines many of its physical and chemical
properties
Electron densities created by the overlap of the orbitals of shared electrons
determine molecular shapes.
The molecular geometry can be determined once a Lewis structure is drawn
The electron pairs in a molecule distribute to minimize interaction
The angle formed by two terminal atoms and the central atom is known as the
bond angle
Unshared pairs of electrons determine the shape of the molecule because they use
more space and push away the already shared electrons
Hybridization is the process in which atomic orbitals mix and form new identical
hybrid orbitals (check on the bonding sites to determine the end result after
bonding, sp orbitals will be involved in hybridization). The number of atomic
orbitals that mix and form the hybrid orbital equals the total number of pairs of
electrons. Lone pairs also occupy hybrid orbitals.
Electronegativity and Polarity

22. What is electron affinity?

It is a measure of the tendency of an atom to accept an electron.
23. What is the trend in the periodic table regarding to electron affinity?
Electron affinity increases with increasing atomic number within a period and
decreases with increasing atomic number within a group.
24. What is a molecular formula?
The molecular formula tells you how many atoms are in a compound. Basically with
the molecular formula you count the amount of atoms per element in the formula.

25. What is electronegativity?

IT is the tendency to attract electrons in a chemical bond.

26. Predicting bonding

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use the atoms electronegative value to determine if the bond will be polar,
non-polar of ionic.
If the difference is 0 the bond formed is non-polar
If the difference is less < 0.4 is mostly covalent
If the difference is between 0.4 and 1.7 or greater it is polar covalent
If the difference is greater than 1.7 it is ionic

27. Using the lewis dot diagram covalent bonding can be represented.
28. How do you represent covalent bonding using the Lewis dot diagram?
Find the number of electrons in the last shell. If the element belongs to the
representative groups then the group number indicates the number of electrons in the
last shell.
F F
H N H
H

29. Multiple bonds

Single covalent : two atoms share one pair F F
Double covalent bonds: two pairs of shared electrons

C= O
H

Triple covalent bonds: the pairs of shared electrons H - C = C - H

30. Dashes also can be used to represent covalent bonding. When doing so the dots
represent valence electrons that are not involved in bonds.
One dash = single covalent bonds
F-F
Two dashes = double covalent bonds H C = O
Three dashes = triple covalent bonds H C = C - H

31. Properties of Covalent Bonds

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share a pair of electrons

different atoms can have different electronegativities
shared electrons are strongly attracted to the most electronegative atom
Significantly different electronegativities form polar bonds. Keeping
partial charges
Use + to represent partial positive charges and - to represent partial
negative charges.

Non-polar bonds form when two atoms of similar electronegativities bond

For example: F-F (fluorine bonding with fluorine).
Unequal sharing of electrons results in a polar bond. The most
electronegative atoms will be at the end of the partially negative end and
the least electronegative at the positive side of the molecule forming a
dipole
Non-polar molecules are not attracted by an electric field. Polar molecules
are attracted to electric fields due to the formation of dipoles
Symmetric molecules are usually non-polar
Asymmetric molecules are usually polar
Polar molecules and ionic compounds are usually soluble in polar
substances
Non-polar molecules dissolve only non-polar substances

32. Naming Molecular compounds

-covalent bonds form molecular compounds. To name them it is necessary to
use prefixes. Mono= one (is not usually writen with the first atom), di= two, tri= 3,
tetra= 4, penta= 5, hexa = 6, hepta =7, octa= 8, nona =9, deca = 10.
- order of naming; least electronegative first then the most electronegative.
Example: CCl4 carbon (there is only one carbon) tetra chloride (tetra= 4 chlorine
atoms); C02 carbon dioxide (2 oxygens); CO carbon monoxide (1 oxygen).

33. Naming Polyatomic ions

ions formed of 2 or more atoms joined together by a covalent bond.
Oxyanion, it is a polyatomic ion composed of an element (nonmetal)
bonded to one or more oxygen atoms
Naming oxyanions: the ion with more oxygen atoms is named using the
root of the nonmetal plus the suffix ate
The ion with the fewer oxygen atoms is named using the root of the
nonmetal plus the suffix ite
Example: NO3 Nitrate NO2 nitrite
Chlorine forms four oxyanions. These are named according to the number
of oxygen atoms present:
The oxyanion with the greatest number of oxygen atoms is named using
the prefix per- and the root of the nonmetal, and the suffix ate ClO4
perchlorate
The oxyanion with one less oxygen atoms is named with the root of the
nonmetal and the suffix ate ClO3 is chlorate
The oxyanion with two fewer oxygen atoms is named with the root of the
nonmetal and the suffix ite ClO2 chlorite
The osyanion with three fewer oxygen atoms is named using the pregix
hypo- + the root of the nonmetal + ite ClO hypochlorite
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34. Naming acids

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acids are formed when the compound contains H+ hydrogen ions in it. If
H+ is bonded to an anion (negative anion) which prefix ends in ide (for
example chloride) the ide word changes for ic (chloride to chloric).
Example: HCl hydrochloric acid
If an acid derives from a polyatomic ion NO3 (nitrate) then the acid HNO3
will change to nitric (the name of the nitrate changes to nitric and add acid
at the end) acid. H2SO4 (Sulfate SO4 changes to sulfuric) sulfuric acid