MODULE 1 Chemistry as a Central
Science
Unit 1: Chemical Bonding
Anything and everything surrounding us are made of matter.
Matter is defined as the “physical material of the universe; it
is anything that has mass and occupies space” (Brown,
LeMay & Bursten, 2000).
This unit is focused on chemical bonding, which is central to
the differentiation of matter into ionic, covalent or metallic.
CHEMICAL BONDING
All of us have table salt and refined sugar in the kitchen.
While both of them are white and crystalline in appearance,
they are very different substances. For starters, salt is made
of Na and Cl ions while refined sugar is made of sucrose
molecules. Another is that these substances are held together
by different types of chemical bonds.
IONIC BOND
This refers to the electrostatic force holding two ions
together due to their differing charges. Ions result from the
transfer of one or more electrons from one atom to another.
The formation of a simple binary ionic compound that is
comprised of two elements, a metal and a nonmetal, can be
seen below:
Notice that one atom lost an electron, hence obtaining a
positive charge. It is then called a cation. Conversely, a
nonmetal atom gains an electron. It will now be a negatively
charged ion called an anion.
The process of electron transfer enables the formation of a
solid lattice of cations and anions. In the ionic bonding
model, it is said that there are strong electrostatic attractions
that are responsible for keeping the ions in place. This
explains why solid ionic substances are hard and have the
tendency to crack when a sharp external force is applied to
them. Furthermore, this also explains why ionic solids need
to be melted or dissolved to allow for conductivity. Lastly,
their high melting and boiling points are also consistent with
this model. If we add more depth to the idea of ionic
bonding, ionic bonding is actually a CONSEQUENCE of
ionization. Metals have a tendency to lose electrons since
they have an excess of them, while non-metals have a
tendency to gain electrons because they lack a few of them.
What is the reason for this? All atoms tend to follow the
octet rule – to have eight valence electrons. So basically, the
observation that non-metal ions or anions tend to “accept”
an electron from a metal ion or cation only happens if they
are in close proximity to each other.
COVALENT BOND
Let us try to explain why the element hydrogen exists as a
diatomic molecule (H2). In order for free hydrogen atoms to
achieve the closest noble gas configuration, they would have
to acquire a second electron. If two free hydrogen atoms are
allowed to come close to each other, a covalent bond is
formed. This is due to the fact that their nuclei (positively
charged) are attracted to the pair of electrons (negatively
charged) that they share as their orbitals overlap.
Notice that H2 involves a single bond. But one thing to
remember is that sometimes it is necessary for two atoms to
share more than one pair of electrons in order to attain
octets. If in the case that there are two pairs of electrons
shared between atoms, it is called a double bond. And, if
there are three pairs of electrons that unite two atoms, it is
called a triple bond.
Covalent bonds can be classified as sigma bonds or pi
bonds. In the module for organic chemistry, sigma bonds are
sometimes referred to as single bonds, which are basically
an overlap of electron clouds which allow bond rotation. Pi
bonds are bonds which arise from electron clouds which do
not allow bond rotation. In the context of organic chemistry,
covalent bonds are also known as molecular orbitals. An
important concept that we can share this early is that, during
phase transitions, covalent bonds are not destroyed.
Properties of a Covalent Bond
There are properties of covalent bonds that we usually use to
characterize them. In addition, these properties are used to
evaluate their strength and susceptibility to chemical
reactions.
Bond order refers to the number of electron pairs shared by
a pair of atoms involved in a covalent bond. So, a molecule
with one pair of shared electrons has a bond order of one.
A double bond with a total of 4 shared electrons between
atoms has a bond order of 2, and a triple bond has a bond
order of 3.
Bond energy, according to Silberberg (2013), refers to the
energy required to overcome the forces of attraction
between the atoms. In line with this, it is easier to break the
attraction involving single bonds as compared to triple
bonds since it requires lower dissociation energy.
Bond length is merely the distance between the nuclei of
two atoms involved in a covalent bond which is usually
measured in picometers (pm).
METALLIC BOND
This involves a metal-metal interaction usually of the same
element. The bond is formed by the delocalized electron
cloud surrounding metal ions. What happens here is that
metal atoms will crowd together and will have electrons that
freely flow all throughout, and this is what makes it different
from covalent bonding. This “sea of electrons” essentially
holds the metal atoms together. Due to electron
delocalization, we can observe the properties typical of
metals. They interact readily with light hence they exhibit
shininess. When pounded, say by a hammer, electrons
rearrange in the orbitals of the atoms hence the malleability.
The free-flowing electrons is also attributed to the
conductivity of metals.