Chemical Bonding
CHEMICAL BONDING
CONCEPT
Almost everything a person sees or touches in
daily life—the air we breathe, the food we eat, the
clothes we wear, and so on—is the result of a
chemical bond, or, more accurately, many chem-
ical bonds. Though a knowledge of atoms and
elements is essential to comprehend the subjects
chemistry addresses, the world is generally not
composed of isolated atoms; rather, atoms bond
to one another to form molecules and hence
chemical compounds. Not all chemical bonds are
created equal: some are weak, and some very
strong, a difference that depends primarily on
the interactions of electrons between atoms.
HOW IT WORKS
Early Ideas of Bonding
The theory that all of matter is composed of
atoms did not originate in modern times: the
atomic model actually dates back to the fifth cen-
tury B.C. in Greece. The leading exponent of
atomic theory in ancient times was Democritus
(c. 460-370 B.C.), who proposed that matter
could not be infinitely subdivided. At its deepest
substructure, Democritus maintained, the mate-
rial world was made up of tiny fragments he
called atomos, a Greek term meaning “no cut” or
“indivisible”
Forward-thinking though it was, Democri-
tus’s idea was not what modern scientists today
would describe as a proper scientific hypothesis.
His “atoms” were not purely physical units, but
rather idealized philosophical constructs, and
thus, he was not really approaching the subject
from the perspective of a scientist. In any case,
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S
there was no way for Democritus to test his
hypothesis even if he had wanted to: by their very
nature, the atoms he described were far too small
to observe. Even today, what scientists know
about atomic behavior comes not from direct
observation, but indirect means.
Hence, Democritus and the few other
ancients who subscribed to atomic theory went
more on instinct than by scientific methods. Yet,
some of them were remarkably prescient in their
description of the bonding of atoms, in view of
the primitive scientific methods they had at their
disposal. No other scientist came close to the
accuracy of their theory for about 2,000 years.
AS C L E P I A D E S A N D LU C R E T I -
U S D I S C U SS B O N D S . The physician
Asclepiades of Prusa (c.130-40 B.C.) drew on the
ideas of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-
270 B.C., another proponent of atomism. Asclepi-
ades speculated on the ways in which atoms
interact, and discussed “clusters of atoms,”
though, of course, he had no idea what force
attracted the atoms to one another.
A few years after Asclepiades, the Roman
philosopher and poet Lucretius (c.95-c.55 B.C.
espoused views that combined atomism with the
idea of the “four elements”—earth, air, fire, and
water. In his great work De rerum natura (“On
the Nature of Things”), Lucretius described
atoms as tiny spheres attached to each other by
fishhook-like appendages that became entangled
with one another.
LAC K O F P R O G R E SS U N T I L
1 8 0 0 . Unfortunately, the competing idea of
the four elements, handed down by the great
philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), prevailed
over the atomic model. As the Roman Empire
VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY 263
Chemical
Bonding
ELECTRON-DOT DIAGRAMS OF SOME ELEMENTS IN THE PERIODIC TABLE. (Robert L. Wolke. Reproduced by permission.)
began to decline after A.D. 200, the pace of scien-
tific inquiry slowed and—in Western Europe at
least—eventually came to a virtual halt. Hence,
the four elements theory, which had its own fan-
ciful explanations as to why certain “elements”
bonded with one another, held sway in Europe
until the beginning of the modern era.
During the seventeenth century, a mounting
array of facts from the realms of astronomy and
physics collectively disproved the Aristotelian
model. In the area of chemistry, English physicist
and chemist Robert Boyle (1627-1691) showed
that the four elements were not elements at all,
because they could be broken down into simpler
substances. Yet, no one really understood what
constituted an element until the very beginning
of the nineteenth century, and until that question
was addressed, it was difficult to move on to the
mystery of why certain atoms bonded with one
another.
Early Modern Advances in
Bonding Theory
D A LT O N ’ S AT O M I C T H E O R Y.
The birth of atomic theory in modern times
occurred in 1803, when English chemist John
Dalton (1766-1844) formulated the idea that all
264 VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY
elements are composed of tiny, indestructible
particles. These he called by the name Democri-
tus had given them nearly 23 centuries earlier:
atoms. All known substances, he said, are com-
posed of some combination of atoms, which dif-
fer from one another only in mass.
Though Dalton’s theory paved the way for
enormous advances in the years that followed,
there were a number of flaws in it. Mass alone, for
instance, is not really what differentiates one
atom from another: differences in mass reflect
the presence of subatomic particles—protons
and neutrons—of whose existence scientists were
unaware at the time.
Furthermore, the properties of atoms that
cause them to bond relate to a third subatomic
particle, the electron, which, though it con-
tributes little to the mass of the atom, is all-
important to the energy it possesses. As for how
atoms bond to one another, Dalton had little to
say: in his conception of the atomic model, atoms
simply sit adjacent to one another without form-
ing true bonds, as such.
AV O GA D R O A N D T H E M O L E -
C U L E . Though Dalton recognized that the
structure of atoms in a particular element or
compound is uniform, he maintained that com-
pounds are made up of compound atoms: thus,
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S

HYDROGEN BONDING IN HF, H2O, AND NH3. (Robert L. Wolke. Reproduced by permission.)
water is a compound of “water atoms.” However,
water is not an element, and therefore, there had
to be some structure—still very small, but larger
than the atom—in which atoms coalesced to
form the basic materials of a compound.
That structure was the molecule, first
described by Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro
(1776-1856). For several decades, Avogadro, who
originated the idea of the mole as a means of
comparing large groups of atoms or molecules,
remained a more or less unsung hero. Only in
1860, four years after his death, was his idea of
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S
Chemical
Bonding
the molecule resurrected by Italian chemist
Stanislao Cannizzaro (1826-1910). Cannizzaro’s
work was occasioned by disagreement among
scientists regarding the determination of atomic
mass; however, the establishment of the molecu-
lar model had far-reaching implications for the-
ories of bonding.
SYMBOLIZING ATOMIC BONDS.
In 1858, German chemist Friedrich August
Kekulé (1829-1896) made the first attempt to
define the concept of valency, or the property an
atom of one element possesses that determines
VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY 265
Chemical
Bonding

“PURE” WATER FROM A MOUNTAIN STREAM IS ACTUALLY FILLED WITH TRACES OF THE ROCKS OVER WHICH IT
HAS FLOWED. IN FACT, WATER IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND IN PURE FORM EXCEPT BY PURIFYING IT IN A LABO -
RATORY. (David Muench/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.)

its ability to bond with atoms of other elements. ing that it can bond to four other atoms. (The
A pioneer in organic chemistry, which deals with Latin prefix tetra- means “four.”) He also specu-
chemical structures containing carbon, Kekulé lated that carbon atoms are capable of bonding
described the carbon atom as tetravalent, mean- with one another in long chains.

266 VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S

 This was one of the first attempts to examine
the subject of bonding using modern scientific
terminology, complete with hypotheses that
could be tested by experimentation. Kekulé also
recognized that in order to discuss bonds under-
standably, there needed to be some means of rep-
resenting those bonds with symbols. He even
went so far as to develop a system for showing the
arrangement of bonds in space; however, his sys-
tem was so elaborate that it was replaced in favor
of a simpler one developed by Scottish chemist
Archibald Scott Couper (1831-1892).
Couper, who also studied valency and the
tetravalent carbon bond—he is usually given
equal credit with Kekulé for these ideas—created
an extremely straightforward schematic repre-
sentation still in use by chemists today. In
Couper’s system, short dashed lines serve to des-
ignate chemical bonds. Hence, the bond between
two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom in a
water molecule would be represented thus: H-O-
H. As the understanding of bonds progressed in
modern times, this system was modified to take
into account multiple bonds, discussed below.
REAL-LIFE
A P P L I C AT I O N S
Atoms, Electrons, and Ions
Today, chemical bonding is understood as the
joining of atoms through electromagnetic force.
Before that understanding could be achieved,
however, scientists had to unlock the secret of the
electromagnetic interactions that take place
within an atom.
The key to bonding is the electron, discov-
ered in 1897 by English physicist J. J. Thomson
(1856-1940). Atomic structure in general, and
the properties of the electron in particular, are
discussed at length elsewhere in this volume.
However, because these specifics are critical to
bonding, they will be presented here in the short-
est possible form.
At the center of an atom is a nucleus, con-
sisting of protons, with a positive electrical
charge; and neutrons, which have no charge.
These form the bulk of the atom’s mass, but they
have little to do with bonding. In fact, the neu-
tron has nothing to do with it, while the proton
plays only a passive role, rather like a flower being
pollinated by a bee. The “bee” is the electron,
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S
and, like a bee, it buzzes to and fro, carrying a Chemical
powerful “sting”—its negative electric charge, Bonding
which attracts it to the positively charged proton.
E L E C T R O N S A N D I O N S . Though
the electron weighs much, much less than a pro-
ton, it possesses enough electric charge to coun-
terbalance the positive charge of the proton. All
atoms have the same number of protons as elec-
trons, and hence the net electric charge is zero.
However, as befits their highly active role, elec-
trons are capable of moving from one atom to
another under the proper circumstances. An
atom that loses or acquires electrons has an elec-
tric charge, and is called an ion.
The atom that has lost an electron or elec-
trons becomes a positively charged ion, or cation.
On the other hand, an atom that gains an elec-
tron or electrons becomes a negatively charged
ion, or anion. As we shall see, ionic bonds, such
as those that join sodium and chlorine atoms to
form NaCl, or salt, are extremely powerful.
ELECTRON C O N F I G U RAT I O N .
Even in covalent bonding, which does not involve
ions, the configurations of electrons in two
atoms are highly important. The basics of elec-
tron configuration are explained in the Electrons
essay, though even there, this information is pre-
sented with the statement that the student should
consult a chemistry textbook for a more exhaus-
tive explanation.
In the simplest possible terms, electron con-
figuration refers to the distribution of electrons
at various positions in an atom. However,
because the behavior of electrons cannot be fully
predicted, this distribution can only be expressed
in terms of probability. An electron moving
around the nucleus of an atom can be compared
to a fly buzzing around some form of attractant
(e.g., food or a female fly, if the moving fly is
male) at the center of a sealed room. We can state
positively that the fly is in the room, and we can
predict that he will be most attracted to the cen-
ter, but we can never predict his location at any
given moment.
As one moves along the periodic table of ele-
ments, electron configurations become ever
more complex. The reason is that with an
increase in atomic number, there is an increase in
the energy levels of atoms. This indicates a
greater range of energies that electrons can occu-
py, as well as a greater range of motion. Electrons
occupying the highest energy level in an atom are
VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY 267
Chemical called valence electrons, and these are the only
Bonding ones involved in chemical bonding. By contrast,
the core electrons, or the ones closest to the
nucleus, play no role in the bonding of atoms.
Ionic and Covalent Bonds
T H E G OA L O F E I G H T VA -
L E N C E E L E C T R O N S . The above dis-
cussion of the atom, and the electron’s place in it,
refers to much that was unknown at the time
Thomson discovered the electron. Protons were
not discovered for several more years, and neu-
trons several decades after that. Nonetheless, the
electron proved the key to solving the riddle of
how substances bond, and not long after Thom-
son’s discovery, German chemist Richard Abegg
(1869-1910) suggested as much.
While studying noble gases, noted for their
tendency not to bond, Abegg discovered that
these gases always have eight valence electrons.
His observation led to one of the most important
principles of chemical bonding: atoms bond in
such a way that they achieve the electron config-
uration of a noble gas. This has been shown to be
the case in most stable chemical compounds.
TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF
B O N D S . Perhaps, Abegg hypothesized, atoms
combine with one another because they
exchange electrons in such a way that both end
up with eight valence electrons. This was an early
model of ionic bonding, which results from
attractions between ions with opposite electric
charges: when they bond, these ions “complete”
one another.
Ionic bonds, which occur when a metal
bonds with a nonmetal are extremely strong. As
noted earlier, salt is an example of an ionic bond:
the metal sodium loses an electron, forming a
cation; meanwhile, the nonmetal chlorine gains
the electron to become an anion. Their ionic
bond results from the attraction of opposite
charges.
Ionic bonding, however, could not explain
all types of chemical bonds for the simple reason
that not all compounds are ionic. A few years
after Abegg’s death, American chemist Gilbert
Newton Lewis (1875-1946) discovered a very dif-
ferent type of bond, in which nonionic com-
pounds share electrons. The result, once again, is
eight valence electrons for each atom, but in this
case, the nuclei of the two atoms share electrons.
268 VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY
In ionic bonding, two ions start out with dif-
ferent charges and end up forming a bond in
which both have eight valence electrons. In the
type of bond Lewis described, a covalent bond,
two atoms start out as atoms do, with a net
charge of zero. Each ends up possessing eight
valence electrons, but neither atom “owns” them;
rather, they share electrons.
L E W I S S T R U C T U R E S . In addition
to discovering the concept of covalent bonding,
Lewis developed the Lewis structure, a means of
showing schematically how valence electrons are
arranged among the atoms in a molecule. Also
known as the electron-dot system, Lewis struc-
tures represent the valence electrons as dots sur-
rounding the chemical symbols of the atoms
involved. These dots, which look rather like a
colon, may be above or below, or on either side
of, the chemical symbol. (The dots above or
below the chemical symbol are side-by-side, like
a colon turned at a 90°-angle.)
To obtain the Lewis structure representing a
chemical bond, it is first necessary to know the
number of valence electrons involved. One pair
of electrons is always placed between elements,
indicating the bond between them. Sometimes
this pair of valence electrons is symbolized by a
dashed line, as in the system developed by
Couper. The remaining electrons are distributed
according to the rules by which specific elements
bond.
M U LT I P L E BONDS. Hydrogen
bonds according to what is known as the duet
rule, meaning that a hydrogen atom has only two
valence electrons. In most other elements—there
are exceptions, but these will not be discussed
here—atoms end up with eight valence electrons,
and thus are said to follow the octet rule. If the
bond is covalent, the total number of valence
electrons will not be a multiple of eight, howev-
er, because the atoms share some electrons.
When carbon bonds to two oxygen atoms to
form carbon dioxide (CO2), it is represented in
the Couper system as O-C-O. The Lewis struc-
ture also uses dashed lines, which stand for two
valence electrons shared between atoms. In this
case, then, the dashed line to the left of the car-
bon atom indicates a bond of two electrons with
the oxygen atom to the left, and the dashed line
to the right of it indicates a bond of two electrons
with the oxygen atom on that side.
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S
 The non-bonding valence electrons in the
oxygen atoms can be represented by sets of two
dots above, below, and on the outside of each
atom, for a total of six each. Combined with the
two dots for the electrons that bond them to car-
bon, this gives each oxygen atom a total of eight
valence electrons. So much for the oxygen atoms,
but something is wrong with the representation
of the carbon atom, which, up to this point, is
shown only with four electrons surrounding it,
not eight.
In fact carbon in this particular configura-
tion forms not a single bond, but a double bond,
which is represented by two dashed lines—a
symbol that looks like an equals sign. By showing
the double bonds joining the carbon atom to the
two oxygen atoms on either side, the carbon
atom has the required number of eight valence
electrons. The carbon atom may also form a
triple bond (represented by three dashed lines,
one above the other) with an oxygen atom, in
which case the oxygen atom would have only two
other valence electrons.
Electronegativity and Polar
Covalent Bonds
Today, chemists understand that most bonds are
neither purely ionic nor purely covalent; rather,
there is a wide range of hybrids between the two
extremes. Credit for this discovery belongs to
American chemist Linus Pauling (1901-1994),
who, in the 1930s, developed the concept of elec-
tronegativity—the relative ability of an atom to
attract valence electrons.
Elements capable of bonding are assigned an
electronegativity value ranging from a minimum
of 0.7 for cesium to a maximum of 4.0 for fluo-
rine. Fluorine is capable of bonding with some
noble gases, which do not bond with any other
elements or each other. The greater the elec-
tronegativity value, the greater the tendency of
an element to draw valence electrons to itself.
If fluorine and cesium bond, then, the bond
would be purely ionic, because the fluorine exerts
so much more attraction for the valence elec-
trons. But if two elements have equal electroneg-
ativity values—for instance, cobalt and silicon,
both of which are rated at 1.9—the bond is pure-
ly covalent. Most bonds, as stated earlier, fall
somewhere in between these two extremes.
P O LA R C O VA L E N T B O N D I N G .
When substances of differing electronegativity
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S
values form a covalent bond, this is described as Chemical
polar covalent bonding. Sometimes these are Bonding
simply called “polar bonds,” but that is not as
accurate: all ionic bonds, after all, are polar, due
to the extreme differences in electronegativity.
The term “polar covalent bond” is much more
specific, describing a bond, for instance, between
hydrogen (2.1) and sulfur (2.6). Because sulfur
has a slightly greater electronegativity value, the
valence electrons will be slightly more attracted
to the sulfur atom than to the hydrogen atom.
Another example of a polar covalent bond is
the one that forms between hydrogen and oxygen
(3.5) to form H2O or water, which has a number
of interesting properties. For instance, the polar
quality of a water molecule gives it a great attrac-
tion for ions, and thus ionic substances such as
salt dissolve easily in water. “Pure” water from a
mountain stream is actually filled with traces of
the rocks over which it has flowed. In fact,
water—sometimes called the “universal sol-
vent”—is almost impossible to find in pure form,
except when it is purified in a laboratory.
By contrast, molecules of petroleum (CH2)
tend to be nonpolar, because carbon and hydro-
gen have almost identical electronegativity val-
ues—2.5 and 2.1 respectively. Thus, an oil mole-
cule offers no electric charge to bond it with a
water molecule, and for this reason, oil and water
do not mix. It is a good thing that water mole-
cules attract each other so strongly, because this
means that a great amount of energy is required
to change water from a liquid to a gas. If this were
not so, the oceans and rivers would vaporize, and
life on Earth could not exist as it does.
B O N D E N E R GY. The last two para-
graphs allude to attractions between molecules,
which is not the same as (nor is it as strong as)
the attraction between atoms within a molecule.
In fact, the bond energy—the energy required to
pull apart the atoms in a chemical bond—is low
for water. This is due to the presence of hydrogen
atoms, with their two (rather than eight) valence
electrons. It is thus relatively easy to separate
water into its constituent parts of hydrogen and
oxygen, through a process known as electrolysis.
Covalent bonds that involve hydrogen are
among the weakest bonds between atoms.
(Again, this is different from bonds between
molecules.) Stronger than hydrogen bonds are
regular, octet-rule covalent bonds: as one might
expect, double covalent bonds are stronger than
VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY 269
Chemical
Bonding
KEY TERMS

ANION: The negative ion that results
when an atom gains one or more electrons.
An anion (pronounced “AN-ie-un”) of an
element is never called, for instance, the
chlorine anion. Rather, for an anion
involving a single element, it is named by
adding the suffix -ide to the name of the
original element—hence, “chloride.” Other
rules apply for more complex anions.
ATOM: The smallest particle of an ele-
ment. An atom can exist either alone or
in combination with other atoms in a
molecule.
ATOMIC NUMBER: The number of
protons in the nucleus of an atom. Since
this number is different for each element,
elements are listed on the periodic table of
elements in order of atomic number.
BOND ENERGY: The energy required
to pull apart the atoms in a chemical bond.
CATION: The positive ion that results
when an atom loses one or more electrons.
A cation (pronounced “KAT-ie-un”) is
named after the element of which it is an
ion and thus is called, for instance, the alu-
minum ion or the aluminum cation.
CHEMICAL BONDING: The joining,
through electromagnetic force, of atoms
representing different elements. The prin-
cipal types of bonds are covalent bonding
and ionic bonding, though few bonds are
purely one or the other. Rather, there is a
wide range of “hybrid” bonds, in accor-
dance with the electronegativity values of
the elements involved.
CHEMICAL SYMBOL: A one-or two-
letter abbreviation for the name of an
element.
COMPOUND: A substance made up of
atoms of more than one element. These
atoms are usually joined in molecules.
COVALENT BONDING: A type of
chemical bonding in which two atoms
share valence electrons. Atoms may bond
by single, double, or triple covalent bonds,
which, in representations of Lewis struc-
tures, are shown by single, double, or triple
dashed lines. (The double dashed line
looks like an equals sign.) When atoms
have differing values of electronegativity,
they form polar covalent bonds.
DUET RULE: A term describing the
distribution of valence electrons when
hydrogen atoms—which end up with only
two valence electrons—experience chemi-
cal bonding with other atoms. Most other
elements follow the octet rule.
ELECTRON: Negatively charged parti-
cles in an atom. Electrons, which spin
around the protons and neutrons that
make up the atom’s nucleus, are essential to
chemical bonding.
ELECTRONEGATIVITY: The relative
ability of an atom to attract valence
electrons.
ELEMENT: A substance made up of
only one kind of atom. Unlike compounds,
elements cannot be broken down chemi-
cally into other substances.

270 VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S


KEY TERMS
ION: An atom that has lost or gained
one or more electrons, and thus has a net
electrical charge. Ions may either be anions
or cations.
IONIC BONDING: A form of chemical
bonding that results from attractions
between ions with opposite electrical
charges.
LEWIS STRUCTURE: A means of
showing schematically how valence elec-
trons are distributed among the atoms in a
molecule. Also known as the electron-dot
system, Lewis structure represents pairs of
electrons with a symbol rather like a colon,
which—depending on the situation—can
be placed above, below, or on either side of
the chemical symbol. In the Lewis struc-
ture, the pairs of electrons involved in
chemical bonds are usually represented by
a dashed line.
MOLECULE: A group of atoms, usual-
ly, but not always, representing more
than one element, joined in a structure.
Compounds are typically made of up
molecules.
NEUTRON: A subatomic particle that
has no electrical charge. Neutrons are
found at the nucleus of an atom, alongside
protons.
NUCLEUS: The center of an atom, a
region where protons and neutrons are
located, and around which electrons spin.
OCTET RULE: A term describing the
distribution of valence electrons that takes
S C I E N C E O F E V E RY DAY T H I N G S
Chemical
Bonding
CONTINUED
place in chemical bonding for most ele-
ments, which end up with eight valence
electrons. Hydrogen is an exception, and
follows the duet rule. A few elements fol-
low other rules, and some (most notably
the noble gases) do not typically bond with
other elements.
PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS:
A chart showing the elements arranged in
order of atomic number. Vertical columns
within the periodic table indicate groups
or “families” of elements with similar
chemical characteristics.
POLAR COVALENT BONDING: The
type of chemical bonding between atoms
that have differing values of electronegativ-
ity. If the difference is extreme, of course,
the bond is not a covalent bond at all, but
an ionic bond. Thus, although these are
sometimes called polar bonds, they are
more properly identified as polar covalent
bonds.
PROTON: A positively charged particle
in an atom.
VALENCE ELECTRONS: Electrons
that occupy the highest energy levels in an
atom. These are the only electrons involved
in chemical bonding. By contrast, the core
electrons, or the ones at lower energy lev-
els, play no role in the bonding of atoms.
VALENCY: The property of the atom of
one element that determines its ability to
bond with atoms of other elements.
VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY 271
Chemical single ones, and triple covalent bonds are
Bonding stronger still. Strongest of all are ionic bonds,
involved in the bonding of a metal to a metal, or
a metal to a nonmetal, as in salt. The strength of
the bond energy in salt is reflected by its boiling
point of 1,472°F (800°C), much higher than that
of water, at 212°F (100°C).
WHERE TO LEARN MORE
“Chemical Bond” (Web site). <http://www.science.
uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/c120/chembond.html>
(May 18, 2001).
“Chemical Bonding” Oklahoma State University (Web
site). <http://www.okstate.edu/jgelder/bondtable.
html> (May 19, 2001).
“Chemical Bonding” (Web site). <http://pc65.frontier.
osrhe.edu/hs/science/pbond.htm> (May 19, 2001).
272 VOLUME 1: REAL-LIFE CHEMISTRY
“Chemical Bonding” (Web site). <http://users.senet.
com.au/~rowanb/chem/chembond.htm> (May 19,
2001).
“The Colored Periodic Table and Chemical Bonding” (Web
site). <http://students.washington.edu/manteca/>
(May 19, 2001).
Ebbing, Darrell D.; R. A. D. Wentworth; and James P.
Birk. Introductory Chemistry. Boston: Houghton Mif-
flin, 1995.
Linus Pauling and the Twentieth Century: An Exhibition
(Web site). <http://www.paulingexhibit.org> (May
19, 2001).
“Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR).”
<http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/vsepr/chime/vsepr.
html> (May 18, 2001).
White, Florence Meiman. Linus Pauling, Scientist and
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