Chemical Bonding

Class-X

Who do atoms combine?

Imagine, you do not stay with your parents and so, there is
none to stop you from doing any mischief. What will you
do? You will go here and there and do anything you want
as there is no boundation — you will be high on energy but
if you stay with your parents, their watchful eyes will keep
you from doing any mischief. You will be bound to stay
quiet — you will be low on energy.
Now, draw this analogy for atoms. When an atom is in a
free state, it is high on energy. This is primarily due to the
unfulfilled valence shell. Thus, all atoms want to bond with
other atoms in order to fulfil their valence shell and lower
their energy level. So, in short, chemical bonding takes
place in order to bring the interacting atoms to a lower
energy level or to a stabilised state.
Type of Bonding
There are three types of chemical bonding:
 Electrovalent / Ionic bond
 Covalent bond
 Coordinate covalent bond
Electrovalent / Ionic Bond
Definition : The Coulombic or electrostatic force of attraction
which holds the oppositely charged ions of combining atoms
together formed by complete transfer of one or more
electrons from the valence shell of electropositive atom to the
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electronegative atom in order to attain nearest noble gas
configuration is called ionic or electrovalent bond.
This type of bonding takes place between two elements with
high difference in electronegativity. The element with lower
electronegativity simply donates electron(s) to the element
with higher electronegativity. The atom which donates
electron(s) acquires a positive charge and forms a cation and
an atom which accepts electron(s) acquires a negative charge
and forms an anion.
Comparison between the properties of the atoms forming
cation and anion for the formation of an ionic compound:
The atom forming cation The atom forming anion
1. Number of valence shell 1. Number of valence shell
electrons should be 1, electrons should be 5, 6
2 or 3 or 7
2. Atomic size is preferred 2. Atomic size is preferred
to be large. to be small.
3. Lesser value of 3. Greater value of
ionization enthalpy. ionization enthalpy.
4. Lesser value of electron 4. Greater value of electron
affinity. affinity.

More the difference in electronegativity of the atoms

forming anion and cation more the chances of formation
of ionic bond.
Let us illustrate this with the help of two examples:

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Formation of Ionic compounds:
i. Formation of Sodium Chloride (NaCl)
Electronic configuration of Na: 2, 8, 1
Electronic configuration of Cl: 2, 8, 7

Thus, we see that both Na atom and Cl atom will be able

to fulfil their octets respectively if Na atom gives its valence
electron to the Cl atom.
ii) Formation of Magnesium Chloride (MgCl2)
Electronic configuration of Mg: 2, 8, 2
Electronic configuration of Cl: 2, 8, 7

Mg atom has 2 valence electrons and Cl atom has one

valence electron. So Mg atom will be able to attain its
octet if it gives one electron each to two chlorine atoms.

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iii) Formation of Calcium Oxide (CaO)
The atomic number of calcium is 20 and that of oxygen is
8. Therefore, the electronic configuration of calcium and
oxygen are Ca: 2, 8, 8, 2 and Oxygen: 2, 6 respectively.
Calcium atom has two electrons more and oxygen has two
electrons less than their nearest noble gas atom.
Therefore if calcium atom loses two electrons to oxygen
atom and oxygen atom takes up these two electrons, both
will acquire noble gas configuration as shown below and
become oppositely charged ions. These oppositely
charged ions, which are formed are held together by
electrostatic force of attraction to form calcium oxide as
shown in Figure.

(B) Covalent Bond

Definition; The force ot attraction which binds atoms of same
or different elements by mutual sharing of electron is called a
cfovalent bond. The atoms involved in covalent bond
formation contribute equal number of electrons for sharing.
After sharing, the electron pair(s) become(s) common to both
the atoms.
This type of bonding takes place between elements with small
difference in electronegativity. In a covalent bond the two
participating atoms mutually share the electron pair(s) and
there is no donation or acceptance of electrons.
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Conditions for the formation of covalent bonds
I. An atom forming covalent bond should have 4, 5, 6 or 7
electrons in its valence shell.
II. Atoms involved in a covalent bond should have high
ionisation enthalpy.
III. Atoms involved in a covalent bond should have almost
equal electron affinity.
IV. Atoms involved in a covalent bond should have equal or
almost equal electronegativity.
Different types of Covalent Bonds :
Covalent bonds are of three types:
1. Single Covalent Bond.
2. Double Covalent Bond.
3. Triple Covalent Bond.

Let us discuss these bonds one by one —

1. Single Covalent Bond

A single covalent bond is formed by the sharing of

one pair of electrons between the two combining
atoms. This means that a covalent bond is formed
between the two atoms when each atom contributes one
electron each for sharing. A single covalent bond thus
formed is represented by one short line (—) between the
two atoms. Formation of hydrogen molecule, chlorine
molecule, hydrogen chloride (HCI) molecule involve
formation of single covalent bonds. (CI2  Cl — Cl)

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(i) Formation of a Chlorine molecule (Cl2):

The atomic number of chlorine is 17, so its electronic

K L M
.
configuration is 2 8 7

Chlorine atom has 7 electrons in its outermost M-shell

and needs 1 more electron to complete its octet to
attain stability. Therefore, chlorine atom is very reactive
and can not exist as a free atom. When two chlorine
atoms come closer to each other, an electron of both
the atoms is shared between them. The shared pair of
electrons now belongs simultaneously to both the
chlorine atoms, i.e., it is controlled by nuclei of both the
chlorine atoms. This joint control constitutes a force of
attraction which is responsible for the formation of
covalent bond.

(ii) Formation of Water Molecule (H2O):

Electronic configuration of Oxygen (O): 2, 6

So, we see that an oxygen atom needs two more
electrons in its valence shell to attain its octet. A
hydrogen (H) atom has only 1 electron and so, it need
1 more to attain duplet.

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 From the above diagram, we see that each hydrogen
atom shares two electrons with the oxygen atom.
There are two single bonds between O and H atoms

and is represented as:

(iii)Formation of Methane moelcule (CH4):

Methane is a covalent compound containing 4 covalent
bonds. It contains one carbon atom and four hydrogen
atoms covalently bonded to central carbon atom.

Carbon has an atomic number of 6. Its electronic

configuration is K (2) L (4). It has four electrons in its
valence shell and needs 4 more electrons to get the
nearest noble gas configuration of neon. Hydrogen
atom has one electron in its valence shell and it needs
one more electron, to attain the electronic configuration
of nearest noble gas helium. Therefore, one atom of
carbon shares its four valence electrons with four
atoms of hydrogen to form four covalent bonds. In this
way, both carbon and hydrogen atoms attain the stable
configuration of nearest noble gas atoms.
(iv) Formation of Hyrimgen Chloride molecule (HCI):
Hydrogen atom has one electron in its valence shell,
so it needs one more electron to complete its K-shell
and attains the nearest noble gas electronic
configuration. On the other hand, chlorine atom has 7

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 valence electrons in its valence shell. It also needs 1
more electron to complete its outermost shell and
achieves noble gas configuration. So both hydrogen
and chlorine share one electron with each other to
become stable and form a covalent bond.

Diagrammatically, the formation of hydrogen chloride can be

represented as shown in Figure.

 Non-polar Covalent Bond

In some covalent bonds, both atoms have equal
electronegativity values. The two atoms share the
bonding electrons equally. This type of bond is known as
non-polar covalent bond or pure covalent bond.
Most common example is between two identical atoms:
H2, O2, N2, Cl2, F2, I2, Br2 [homo nuclear molecules]

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 Polar Covalent Bond
When a covalent bond is formed between two different
types of atoms with different electronegativity values, in
that cases the atom which is more electronegative than
the other, attracts the bonding electron pairs more
strongly towards itself. As a result the shared electron
pairs shifted towards the more electronegative atom
making the covalent bond polar.

Ex. HCI, chlorine is more electronegative than hydrogen.

So chlorine attracts the electron pair towards itself more
strongly than hydrogen, Hence the electron pair will be
shifted more towards chlorine. So the bond becomes
polar in nature.

2. Double Covalent Bond

A double covalent bond is formed by the sharing of two
pairs of electrons between the two combining atoms. In
this process, both the atoms taking part in bonding
contribute two electrons each for sharing. The shared
pair of electrons lie between the two atoms and hold
them together. A double bond between the two atoms is
represented by putting two short lines (=) between the
two bonded atoms.

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 Formation of oxygen molecule involves formation of a
double covalent bond between the two oxygen atoms.

3. Triple Covalent Bond

A triple covalent bond is formed by the sharing of three
pairs of electrons between the two combining atoms. In
this process, both the atoms inking part in bonding,
contribute three electrons each for sharing. The shared
pair of electrons lie between the two atoms and hold
them together. A triple bond can be considered to be a
combination of three single bonds, therefore, it is
represented by putting three short lines (=) between the
two bonded atoms. The nitrogen molecule involves
formation of a triple covalent bond between two nitrogen
atoms.

Formation of Simple Molecules Involving Covalent Bond:

Let us now discuss formation of some simple molecules
involving formation of single, double and triple covalent
bonds. First of all we shall discuss, the formation of some
molecules containing single covalent bond followed by
molecules containing double and triple covalent bonds.

(i) Formation of Nitrogen Molecule (N2)

Electronic configuration of N: 2, 5
Thus, we see that a nitrogen atom needs 3 more
electrons to attain octet. This is an example of triple
covalent bond and is represented as: N  N

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(ii) Formation of Acetylene of Ethyne molecule (C2H2):
Acetylene is a covalent compound in which each carbon
atom is attached to a hydrogen atom by a single covalent
bond, while carbon atoms themselves are attached
together by a triple covalent bond. The formation of
acetylene molecule can be explained as under : In the
formation of acetylene molecule, each carbon atom
shares three electrons each to form a triple bond among
themselves, white the remaining electron of each carbon
atom is shared with one hydrogen atom each to form two
carbon-hydrogen single bonds as shown in the figure.

It may be pointed out that acetylene contains two carbon-

hydrogen single bonds and one carbon-carbon triple
bond. Moreover, each carbon atom has attained an octet
of electrons, in its valence shell which resembles with that
of inert gas neon, while each hydrogen has attained a
duplet of electrons in its K-valence shell which resembles
that of helium.

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Coordinate covalent bond
In a covalent bond, each atom donates one electron to
form an electron pair which is mutually shared by
both atoms. But in a coordinate covalent bond, one
atom gives its lone pair to the other atom and then
shared them equally.
(i) Formation of hydronium (H3O+) ion:

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