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psc923 2 Introduction to Ch Types of Chemica 2007 Monday, July 30,

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Atoms are the building
blocks of all
substances. But what
is it that keeps atoms
connected together?
They are held together
by CHEMICAL BONDS,
strong attractive forces
between atoms.
Without these ties that A molecule of aspirin
bind, the universe
would be nothing more
than a mass chaos of
individual atoms.

So what constitutes a chemical bond? A bond is formed when

electrons from two atoms interact with each other and their atoms
become joined. The electrons that interact with each other are
VALENCE ELECTRONS, the ones that reside in the outermost
electron shell of an atom.
As you sit reading this sentence, billions of atoms surround you.
When any two of them approach each other, their outermost
electrons come into close contact. Recall that electrons are
negatively charged particles, so a chance meeting between atoms
usually results in the two repelling each other. Occasionally,
however, atoms will stick together by forming a chemical bond.
There are two main types of bonding discussed
here. A COVALENT BOND results when two atoms
"share" valence electrons between them. An
IONIC BOND occurs when one atom gains a
valence electron from a different atom, forming a
negative ion (ANION) and a positive ion (CATION),
respectively. These oppositely charged ions are

Table salt
(NaCl)
 3a. Atoms That Share: Covalent Bonds

Don't look now, but

you're surrounded by
covalent bonds. They're
in the air you breathe
and in the water you
drink. You even make
them yourself when you
exhale. What are these
bonds? What do they
want? A water molecule is an example of the
single covalent bond between oxygen
Take a look at water and hydrogen.
(H2O). H2O is a
MOLECULE, a discrete
unit of atoms that are
bonded together. A molecule of water consists of an oxygen atom that is bonded to two
hydrogen atoms. A hydrogen atom and the oxygen atom each donate one valence
electron to form a chemical bond. These two valence electrons
forming the bond are shared by both atoms, resulting in a
SINGLE COVALENT BOND. Think of this in terms of two pieces of
wood that are nailed together. The pieces of wood are the
atoms, and the nails holding them together are the electrons
that form the covalent bond. Each piece of wood shares a
portion of the nails.
Oxygen molecules
Air, too, contains oxygen. Oxygen does not exist as a single shares two electrons to
oxygen atom, but as a molecule of two oxygen atoms. These make a double
two oxygen atoms share two pairs of valence electrons (four covalent bond.
valence electrons total) between them, forming a DOUBLE
COVALENT BOND. This is true of any double covalent bond; four
valence electrons are shared between two atoms.
Another component of air is
nitrogen. Like oxygen, nitrogen
does not exist as a single nitrogen
atom, but as a molecule made up of
two nitrogen atoms. The two
nitrogen atoms in a molecule of
nitrogen share three pairs of
valence electrons (six valence
electrons total) to form a TRIPLE
In a molecule
COVALENT BOND.
of carbon,
Is it possible to predict whether two atoms
bonds are covalent or not? A good share three
rule of thumb is that bonds between electrons -- a
nonmetals (remember that triple
hydrogen is considered a nonmetal) covalent
are usually covalent bonds. For bond.
example, the carbon dioxide (CO2)
molecules you exhale are bonded
together covalently.
So you see, you are surrounded, but it's okay. Relax. Take a deep breath. Get a drink of
water, maybe. Then read on to learn about some other ways molecules stick together.

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psc923b 3 Introduction to Ch Fatal Attraction: Io 2007 Monday, July 30,

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psc923d 3 Introduction to Ch Identifying Bonds 2007 Monday, July 30,

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3d. Identifying Bonds

 Okay, so that's
Linus Pauling won the Nobel bonding. Here's a
Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for quick summary of
his work on chemical bonding. how to predict the
type of bond likely
to be found in any
given substance:

1. Two nonmetal atoms usually

form covalent bonds.
2. A metal and a nonmetal
atom usually form ionic
bonds.

Why? Great question! It happens by the numbers — in this case,

electronegativity values. The covalent bonds between nonmetal atoms
have relatively low differences in electronegativity values. Looking at the
periodic table (again!) reveals that electronegativity values for the
nonmetals generally range from 2.0 to 4.0 (with a few exceptions).

Because the electronegativity values are fairly similar for all

nonmetal atoms, they should have low differences in
electronegativity values. For example, a carbon-oxygen bond has
an electronegativity difference of 1.0. (Want proof? Check the
table!) This value is considered rather low.

Electronegativity values
Guess what happens with ionic bonds because they usually occur
between a metal and a nonmetal atom? The periodic table shows
that metal atoms generally have electronegativity values that range
from 0.7 to 1.5. The difference in electronegativity between metal
and nonmetal atoms in an ionic bond is therefore relatively high
compared to the difference in covalent bonds.
For example, a common ionic solid is table salt (NaCl). The
difference in electronegativity values for sodium and chlorine is
2.1. This value for the ionic bond between sodium and chlorine is
two times greater than the value of 1.0 for the covalent carbon-
oxygen bond.

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