Lesson: Chapter - 5

Chemical Bonds

The connections between the atoms in a compound are called chemical bonds. Atoms form bonds by sharing their electrons with each other, relying on the power of electric charge to keep themselves attached. Molecules and compounds can also bond with each other. Important bonds between atoms are covalent and ionic bonds. Bonds between molecules or compounds are called dipole-dipole bonds.

Covalent bonds

Bonds formed through the more or less equal sharing of electrons between atoms are known as covalent bonds.

If the electrons in a covalent bond are shared equally, the resulting bond is called a nonpolar covalent bond. When one atom pulls the shared electrons toward itself a little more tightly than the other, the resulting covalent bond is said to be a polar bond. In a polar bond, the atom that pulls electrons toward itself gains a slight negative charge (because electrons have a negative charge). Since the other atom partially loses an electron, it gains a slight positive charge. For example, the atoms in water form polar bonds because oxygen, which has eight protons in its nucleus, has a greater pull on electrons than hydrogen, which has only one proton.

Ionic Bonds

Polar covalent bonds involve the unequal sharing of electrons. This inequality is brought to an extreme in a bonding arrangement called an ionic bond. In an ionic bond, one atom pulls the shared electrons away from the other atom entirely. Ionic bonds are stronger than polar bonds.

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