Covalent Bonding lewis structures

Covalent Bond

A chemical bond formed by the sharing of electrons between atoms.

Lewis Structure

A diagram that shows the arrangement of electrons in a molecule.

Valence Electrons

Electrons that are in the outermost shell of an atom and are involved in forming bonds.

Coordinate Covalent Bond

A type of covalent bond where both electrons in the bond come from the same atom.

Octet Rule

The principle that atoms tend to bond in such a way that they each have eight electrons in their valence shell.

Formal Charge

A calculated charge on an atom in a molecule that represents the difference between the number of valence electrons and the number assigned in the Lewis structure.

Bonding Pair

A pair of electrons that are shared between two atoms to form a covalent bond.

Lone Pair

A pair of valence electrons that are not shared with another atom.

Electrostatic Forces

Forces of attraction or repulsion between charged particles.

Proton-Electron Interaction

The attractive force between protons in the nucleus and electrons in the electron cloud.

Quantum Mechanical Probability Distribution

A mathematical function that describes the likelihood of finding an electron in a particular region around the nucleus.

Potential Energy Curve

A graph that shows how the potential energy of a system changes with the position of its constituent particles.

Internuclear Distance

The distance between the nuclei of two bonded atoms.

Atom

The smallest unit of an element that retains the properties of that element.

Diatomic Molecule

A molecule composed of two atoms.

Polyatomic Ion

An ion consisting of two or more atoms.

Electronegative Element

An element that has a tendency to attract electrons towards itself when forming a chemical bond.

Allotropes

Different structural forms of the same element.