Introduction to Chemical Bonding and Valence Electrons

These flashcards cover key concepts related to chemical bonding, valence electrons, and molecular geometry based on the lecture notes.

Valence Electrons

Electrons in the outermost shell of an atom that are involved in chemical bonding.

Covalent Bonding

The sharing of electron pairs between atoms.

Octet Rule

Atoms tend to gain, lose, or share electrons to have eight electrons in their valence shell.

Hydrogen's Stability

Hydrogen achieves stability by sharing electrons to have two valence electrons, like Helium.

Lewis Diagram

A representation that uses dots to show the valence electrons of an atom and how they bond with other atoms.

Lone Pairs

Pairs of valence electrons that are not involved in bonding.

Steric Number

The number of things (atoms or lone pairs) surrounding a central atom.

Nitrogen's Valence Electrons

Nitrogen has five valence electrons and typically forms three bonds.

Molecular Compounds

Compounds held together by covalent bonds.

Hydrogen Chloride (HCl) Lewis Structure

A diagram showing one bond between hydrogen and chlorine, with three lone pairs on chlorine.

Double Bonds

A type of covalent bond where two pairs of electrons are shared between two atoms.

Bonding Pair

A pair of electrons that are shared between atoms in a covalent bond.

Halogens

Elements in group 17 that typically need one more electron to complete their valence shell.

Central Atom

The atom in a molecule that is bonded to the most number of other atoms.

Geometry of Molecules

The three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in a molecule based on steric number.

Trigonal Planar Geometry

A molecular geometry with three bonded atoms and no lone pairs around the central atom.

Angular Geometry

A molecular shape with two bonded atoms and one or more lone pairs around the central atom.

Valence Electrons

The outermost shell of electrons in an atom.

Hydrogen Valence Electrons

Hydrogen has 1 valence electron and desires 2 for stability (like Helium).

Covalent Bonding

The sharing of electrons among atoms to form stable molecules.

Bond Representation

A dash (-) indicating a shared pair of electrons; each bond contains 2 electrons.

Carbon Valence Electrons

Carbon has 4 valence electrons and needs 4 more to satisfy the octet rule, thus forming 4 bonds.

Octet Rule

The principle that atoms (like Carbon) aspire to achieve a total of 8 valence electrons for stability.

Nitrogen Bonding

Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons and forms 3 bonds to satisfy the octet rule.

Oxygen Bonding

Oxygen has 6 valence electrons and forms 2 bonds to satisfy the octet rule.

Fluorine Bonding

Fluorine has 7 valence electrons and forms 1 bond to satisfy the octet rule.

Neon Stability

Neon has 8 valence electrons, is a noble gas, and is stable, thus forming 0 bonds.

Molecular Compounds

Compounds formed primarily from nonmetals, bonded via covalent bonds.

Steric Number

The count of total bonding and lone electron pairs around the central atom.