Chemical Bonds and Electronegativity

A complete vocabulary set covering chemical bonds, electronegativity, ionic vs covalent properties, polarity, and ion formation from lecture sources.

Chemical Bonds

Relationships between atoms.

Electrostatic force

The force where like charges repel and opposites attract, keeping atoms close because energy rises when they are separated.

Bond Length

Distance between 2 nuclei at the point of minimum energy, where attractive and repulsive forces cancel each other out.

Covalent Bond

A bond formed by atoms sharing electrons, which does not result in charged ions because neither atom completely gains or loses electrons.

Electronegativity

The ability of an atom to attract shared electrons.

Polarity

Separation of charges that occurs when shared electrons hang out closer to one side of a bond, creating a slight negative charge in that area and a slight positive charge around the other atom.

Polar Covalent Bonds

Covalent bond in which the 2 atoms have different electronegativities (a low difference of electronegativity), causing a separation of charges.

NonPolar Covalent Bonds

Covalent bond where 2 atoms have identical or very similar electronegativities (zero difference of electronegativity), resulting in charges being distributed evenly.

Ionic Bonds

Bond formed by the transfer of electrons from one atom to another (positive and negative ion), driven by a high difference of electronegativity.

Metals

Elements that are constantly dropping electrons and becoming positive ions.

Metalloids

Elements that have metallic and nonmetallic characteristics.

Cation

Positive ion because it lost electrons.

Anion

Negative ion because it gained electrons.

Chemical Bond Formation Stability

The reason why atoms share or transfer electrons to become more stable by getting a fuller outer shell of electrons.

$\text{Na}^+$ and $\text{Cl}^-$ Ionic Formation

Sodium ($\text{Na}$) loses an electron to gain more positive charge ($\text{Na}^+$), while Chlorine ($\text{Cl}$) gains that electron to gain more negative charge ($\text{Cl}^-$).