Bonding Basics

You must first learn why atoms bond together. We use a

concept called "Happy Atoms." We figure that most atoms want
to be happy, just like you. The idea behind Happy Atoms is that
atomic shells like to be full. That's it. If you are an atom and
you have a shell, you want your shell to be full. Some atoms
have too many electrons (one or two extra). These atoms like
to give up their electrons. Some atoms are really close to
having a full shell. Those atoms go around looking for other
atoms who want to give up an electron.

Let's take a look at some examples.

We should start with the atoms that have atomic numbers

between 1 and 18. There is a 2-8-8 rule for these elements.
The first shell is filled with 2 electrons, the second is filled with
8 electrons, and the third is filled with 8. You can see
that sodium (Na) and magnesium (Mg) have a couple of extra
electrons. They, like all atoms, want to be happy. They have
two possibilities: they can try to get to eight electrons to fill up
their third shell, or they can give up a few electrons and have a
filled second shell. It is always easier to give away one or two
electrons than it is to go out and find six or seven to fill your
shells.

What a coincidence! Many other atoms are interested in gaining

a few extra electrons.
Oxygen (O) and fluorine (F) are two good examples. Each of
those elements is looking for a couple of electrons to make a
filled shell. They each have one filled shell with two electrons,
but their second shells want to have eight. There are a couple
of ways they can get the electrons. They can share electrons,
making a covalent bond, or they can just borrow them, and
make an ionic bond (also called electrovalent bond).

So, let’s say we've got a sodium atom that has an extra
electron. We've also got a fluorine atom that is looking for one.

When they work together, they can both wind up happy!

Sodium gives up its extra electron. The sodium then has a full
second shell and the fluorine (F) also has a full second shell.
Two happy atoms! When an atom gives up an electron, it
becomes positive like the sodium ion (Na ). When an atom gets
+

an extra electron, it becomes negatively charged like the

fluorine ion (F ). The positive and negative charges continue to
-

attract each other like magnets. The attraction of opposite

charges is the way they form and maintain the bond. Any
atoms in an ionic/electrovalent bond can get or give up
electrons.

Compound Basics
Let’s start with molecules. Molecule is the general term used
to describe any atoms that are connected by chemical bonds.
Every combination of atoms is a molecule. A compound is a
molecule made of atoms from different elements. All
compounds are molecules, but not all molecules are
compounds. Hydrogen gas (H ) is a molecule, but not a
2

compound because it is made of only one element. Water (H O)

2

can be called a molecule or a compound because it is made of

hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms.

There are two main types of chemical bonds that hold atoms
together: covalent and ionic/electrovalent bonds. Atoms that
share electrons in a chemical bond have covalent bonds. An
oxygen molecule (O ) is a good example of a molecule with a
2

covalent bond. Ionic bonds occur when electrons are donated

from one atom to another. Table salt (NaCl) is a common
example of a compound with an ionic bond.

You may also learn about a third type of bond. Metallic bonds
occur between metal atoms. We’re going to focus on ionic and
covalent bonds.

Different Bonds Abound

If you look at sodium chloride, it is held together by one
ionic/electrovalent bond. What about magnesium chloride
(MgCl )? It contains one magnesium (Mg) and two chlorine (Cl)
2

atoms. There are two ionic bonds. Methane (CH ) is made up of

4

one carbon (C) and four hydrogen (H) atoms. There are four

bonds and they are all covalent.

Those examples have very simple chemical bonds. However,

most compounds have combinations of ionic and covalent
bonds. Let's look at sodium hydroxide (Na-OH)...
You can see the sodium (Na) part on the left and
the hydroxide (-OH) part on the right. The bond that binds
the hydrogen (H) to the oxygen (O) is covalent. The sodium is
bonded to the hydroxide part of the compound with an ionic
bond. This is a good example of how there can be different
types of bonds within one compound.

When you have two different elements, there are usually only
two words in the compound name. The first word is the name
of the first element. The second word tells you the second
element and how many atoms there are in the compound. The
second word usually ends in IDE. That's the suffix. When you
are working with non-metals like oxygen (O) and chlorine (Cl),
the prefix (section at the beginning of the word) of the second
element changes based on how many atoms there are in the
compound. It's like this...

What is an atom? Atoms are building blocks. If you want to

create a language, you'll need an alphabet. If you want to
build molecules, you will need atoms from different elements.
Elements are the alphabet in the language of molecules.

A chemical bond is formed between two atoms by the complete transfer of one or more electrons
from one atom to the other as a result of which the atoms attain their nearest inert gas configuration.
There are primarily three ways in which two atoms combine to lose energy and to become stable.
One of the ways is by donating or accepting electrons to complete their octet configuration. The
bond formed by this kind of combination is known as an ionic bond or electrovalent bond. This
kind of bond is formed when one atom gains electrons while the other atom loses electrons from its
outermost level or orbit.

Electrovalent Bond
Electrovalent bonds are produced when electrons are transferred from atoms of one element to
atoms of another element, producing positive and negative ions. The bond which is formed by the
transfer of electrons between the atoms is called electrovalent bond or ionic bond. Electrovalent
bonds are only formed between metals and non-metals. Electrovalent bonds are not formed
between two non-metals.

Electronegativity and Ionic Bonding

 An Ionic bond is the bond formed by the complete transfer of valence electron to attain
stability.
 This type of bonding leads to the formation of two oppositely charged ions – positive ion
known as cations and negative ions are known as anions.
 The presence of two oppositely charged ions results in a strong attractive force between
them. This force is an ionic or electrovalent bond.
 Ionic bonds form between atoms with large differences in electronegativity, whereas covalent
bonds formed between atoms with smaller differences in electronegativity.
 The compound formed by the electrostatic attraction of positive and negative ions is called
an ionic compound.

What makes an ionic bond?

Ionic bond, also known as an electrovalent bond, type of connection created in a chemical
compound from the electrostatic attraction of oppositely charged ions.
How do you identify an ionic bond?
There is an ionic bond between the metal and non-metal and a covalent bond between two non-
metals. So you usually just look at the periodic table and determine if your compound is made of
a metal/non-metal or only 2 non-metals.

Which is stronger bond ionic or covalent?

Covalent is stronger because the two atoms contain two or more electrons of the exterior shell.
When a valence exterior shell electron is moved from one atom to another, ionic bonds are
created-a much weaker interaction.

Why ionic bonds are not real bonds?

Ionic bonds are formed by the complete transfer of electron(s) forming a cation and anion from
one atom to another. This produces a powerful electrostatic attraction force between the ions. It
is not regarded as a true bond because of the creation of electrostatic attraction alone.

Is ionic bond polar?

A totally polar bond is called an ionic bond more properly, and happens when the distinction
between electronegativities is sufficiently big that one atom effectively takes one electron from
the other.

A covalent bond is formed by equal sharing of electrons from both the participating atoms. The pair
of electrons participating in this type of bonding is called shared pair or bonding pair. The covalent
bonds are also termed as molecular bonds. Sharing of bonding pairs will ensure that the atoms
achieve stability in their outer shell which is similar to the atoms of noble gases.

What are Covalent Bonds?

Elements having very high ionisation energies are incapable of transferring electrons and elements
having very low electron affinity cannot take up electrons. The atoms of such elements tend to share
their electrons with the atoms of other elements or with other atoms of the same element in a way
that both the atoms obtain octet configuration in their respective valence shell and thus achieve
stability. Such association through sharing of electron pairs among different or same kinds is known
as Covalent Bond.
Covalent Bonding can be Achieved in two Ways:
 Sharing of electrons between atoms of the same kind E.g. Formation of H 2, Cl2, O2, etc.
 Sharing of electrons between atoms of different kind E.g. Formation of CH 4, H2O, NH3, etc.

Polar Covalent Bond

This type of covalent bond exists where the unequal sharing of electrons occurs due to the
difference in the electronegativity of combining atoms. More electronegative atom will have a
stronger pull for electrons. The electronegative difference between the atoms is greater than zero
and less than 2.0. As a result, the shared pair of electrons will be closer to that atom.
Example, molecules forming hydrogen bonding as a result of an unbalanced electrostatic potential.
In this case, the hydrogen atom interacts with electronegative fluorine, hydrogen, or oxygen.

Nonpolar Covalent Bond

This type of covalent bond is formed whenever there is an equal share of electrons between atoms.
The electronegativity difference between two atoms is zero. It occurs wherever the combining atoms
have similar electron affinity (diatomic elements).
Example, Nonpolar Covalent Bond is found in gas molecules like Hydrogen gas, Nitrogen gas, etc.