Introduction To Bonding

When atoms combine with each other to form compounds, the process is called bonding. Atoms do this in order to achieve the stability of the closest Nobel gas (a full outer shell of electrons). Metals have only a few electrons in their outer shell (1-3) so they will readily lose these electrons to attain the electronic configuration of the closest Nobel gas. For. eg, Lithium has an electronic configuration of 2,1. Lithium will lose its single outer electron to form a lithium ion resulting in an outer shell of 2 electrons (remember the first electron shell has a maximum capacity of 2 electrons). Hence the lithium ion produced will have a full outer shell with the electronic configuration of helium (closest nobel gas). The opposite is true for non metals; they have many electrons in their outer shell and will readily gain or share electrons to achieve the stability of a full outer shell (electronic configuration of the closest nobel gas). You may be wondering why non metals cannot lose all of its outer electrons; or why metals cant gain numerous electrons to complete its outer shell. The answer is simple energy. It is far too energy consuming for non metals to lose all its outer electrons and for metals to gain electrons to complete their outer shell. The energy we are considering here is the energy needed to overcome electrostatic forces of attraction. You will learn about this further in your studies. Previous | Next

Ionic Bonding
The transfer of electrons from one atom to another is called ionic bonding. This type of bonding occurs between metals and non-metals. The compounds formed are called ionic compounds. As stated previously, metals try to lose their outer electrons while non metals look to gain electrons to obtain a full outer shell. When metals lose their outer electrons they form positively charged ions called cations. When non-metals gain electrons they form negatively charged ions called anions. An example is shown below:

The arrow represents the transfer of an electron from a sodium atom to a fluorine atom. This transfer results in the formation of:

As can be seen the sodium atom is now a positively charged sodium cation. This positive charge results from the loss of its outer negative electron, which resulted in the sodium atom now having more protons than electrons and hence a net positive charge. Also, since the outer electron shell is lost, it is not represented in the diagram. The fluorine atom accepts this negative electron and is now a negatively charged fluorine anion, because it has more electrons than protons. These 2 ions are strongly attracted to each other because of their opposite charge. A bond is now formed and the resulting compound is called Sodium Fluoride Previous | Next

Ionic Bonding Part 2

Another example of ionic bonding is the blending of Beryllium and Fluorine to form beryllium fluoride.

Beryllium has 2 outer electrons and as stated before metals will lose their outer electrons to obtain a full outer shell. Since fluorine needs to gain 1 electron to complete its outer shell and Beryllium needs to lose 2 electrons, one Beryllium atom will bond with 2 Fluorine atoms:

The transfer of electrons from beryllium results in the formation of an ionic bond. Beryllium now has a positive (+2) charge and Fluorine now has a negative charge. The resulting compound is called Beryllium Fluoride (BeF2).

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Properties Of Ionic Compounds

There are properties that are shown by ionic compounds. These are: - Contains Ion - Have ions arrange in a fixed pattern called a crystal lattice - Are crystalline solids - Conducts electricity when molten or dissolved in water Readily dissolve in water An example of the properties of ionic compounds is sodium chloride. It has a crystal lattice as seen below. It is important to note at this point that this arrangement of atoms is due to electrostatic forces of attraction between the positive and negative charge of the Sodium cation and the Chlorine anion. The structure of Sodium Chloride is shown below:

The Sodium cations are represented by the light blue spheres, while the Chlorine anions are represented by the darker green spheres. Each chloride ion is surrounded by six sodium ions and each sodium ion is surrounded by six chloride ions. The ions are arranged so that they are alternated, i.e., a chloride ion is next to a sodium ion and so on. You will never find two chloride ions or two sodium ions situated next to each other as opposites attracts and like charges repel. This arrangement is a fixed pattern called a crystal lattice and for this reason sodium chloride is a crystalline solid.

Sodium Chloride also has a high melting and boiling points because of this rigid crystalline structure and it requires a large amount of heat energy to break these bonds to form a fluid. Previous | Next

Formulae Of Ions
When metals lose electrons, they form positive ions, since they now have more protons than electrons. The charge on these ions is dependent on the number of electrons lost. So if the atom loses one electron, it has a +1 charge; if it loses two electrons, the charge is + 2 and so on. Similarly, when non-metals gain electrons, they form negative ions, since they have more electrons than proton. So if the atom gained one electron it will have a -1 charge, similarly if it gained 2 electrons it will have a -2 charge. Here is a list of ions below, please note how the charge on the ion is written on the top right of the atomic symbol. Beryllium Sodium Oxide Nitride Bromide Previous | Next Be2+ Na1+ O2N3Br 1-

Combination Of Ions
As stated before when metals and non metals react the metals lose electrons and the non-metals gain electrons. The result is ions which are attracted by electrostatic forces of attraction (forces of attraction between opposite charges). Examples are shown below: 1) Sodium and Chlorine combine the result is sodium chloride. Na+ + Cl- NaCl It should be noted that the sum of the charges is equal to 0, as a result NaCl has no charge. 2) Magnesium and Oxygen Mg2+ + O2- MgO 3) Lithium and Oxygen 2Li+ + O2- Li2O In the examples above, you may be wondering why there are 2 Lithium atoms and 1 Oxygen. Well, the answer here is simple. Oxygen needs to gain two electron and lithium needs to lose one electron.

This results in one oxygen bonding to two lithium atoms. Also, you will realize that lithium oxide (Li2O) has no charge similarly with the above as the charges cancel. Previous | Next

Polyatomic Ions
These, as the name suggests, are ions that are made of more than one atom. These act like regular ions and will combine with other ions of opposite charge. These type of ions are shown below: Nitrate- NO3 1Sulphate- SO4 2Sulphite- SO3 2Ammonium- NH4 1+ Example NO3 1- + Na1+ -> NaNO3 2NH4 1+ + SO4 2- -> (NH4)2 SO4 Notice the (NH4)2 means there are 2 ammionium ions in the compound formed.

Metallic Bonding
There are strong forces of attraction within a metal and this is attributed to metallic bonding. Metals have a sea of delocalized electrons within its structure. These electrons have become detached and the remaining atoms have a positive charge. This positive charged is attracted to the delocalized sea of electrons due to electrostatic forces of attraction (forces which result from unlike charges), and as a result has a strong interaction. It is this interaction which makes the metals so hard and rigid. The diagram below shows the metallic bonding.

Covalent Bonding
Covalent bonding is the type of bonding done between non-metal atoms only. There is no transfer of electrons in covalent bonding because the electrons are shared. The electrons shared are valence electrons (electrons in the outer shell) which results in a complete outer shell for each atom involved.

Where e represent Electrons A single covalent bond is a shared pair of electrons. As can be seen above, the Hydrogen atom shares its single electron with chlorine. If we count all of chlorines outer electron, including the shared electrons, we will see that it now possesses 8 electrons and has a complete outer shell resembling the closest Nobel gas, Argon. If we count all the outer electrons for Hydrogen, we will see that it now has 2 electrons. This is a complete outer shell as it now resembles the closest Nobel gas in Helium. We should always bear in mind that all elements try to acquire the electronic configuration of the closest Nobel gas. Another example of covalent bonding is the bonding that occurs between 2 oxygen atoms to form the diatomic oxygen molecule. Diatomic gases are gases whose molecules are made of two atoms. Oxygen forms a diatomic molecule to achieve stability. Oxygen and most other elemental gases are found as a diatomic molecule naturally. Oxygen possesses 6 electrons in its outer shell and needs two more electrons to complete its outer electron shell. As such each oxygen atom will share 2 of its electrons to form a double bond . A double bond is 2 pairs of electrsons or 4 electrons 2 from each atom. If we count the outer electrons of each oxygen atom, including the shared electrons, we will see that there are a total of eight (8) electrons. This is a complete outer shell. An example of this is shown below:

Where e is used to represent electrons

Covalent Bonding Part 2

Many non-metal atoms form diatom molecules like oxygen as seen in the previous chapter. These are shown below:

Diatomic Molecules Oxygen Chlorine Hydrogen Nitrogen Fluorine Bromine Iodine

Formulae O2 Cl2 H2 N2 F2 Br2 I2

Above we see that Nitrogen forms a diatomic molecule. We know that nitrogen possesses 5 electrons in its outer shell and needs a total of 3 electrons to have a complete outer shell. As such, each nitrogen atom will donate 3 electrons to the covalent bond to form 3 pairs of electrons or a triple bond. A total of 6 electrons will be shared and along with the remaining 2 outer electrons, will form a complete outer shell of 8 electrons. This is shown below:

Where e is used to represent electrons.

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Properties Of Covalent Compounds

Properties of Covalent Compounds - Weak intermolecular (between molecules) forces of attraction - Do not conduct electricity - Partially soluble in water - Are made of molecules not ions There are many types of covalent compounds. We have covered the diatomic molecules such as the oxygen and the nitrogen molecule, however the large majority of covalent compounds are not diatomic and involve several different kinds of atoms. A simple example of this is water. You know this is a commodity we use in everyday life. The formula for water is H2O and the structure of this is shown below:

Notice that for water, there are 2 Hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom as we would expect because oxygen needs 2 electrons to have a complete outer shell and hydrogen needs 1 electron. As a result Oxygen forms two single bonds with Hydrogen. This may be confusing at first but an easy way to grasp the concept of covalent bonding is to identity how many electrons are needed to complete the outer shell of a non metal atom. If one electron is needed to complete the outershell, then a single bond will be formed with each atom contributing one electron. If two atoms are in need of 2 electrons then a double bond will be formed with each atom contributing 2 atoms, eg oxygen molecule above. If one atom needs 2 electrons and the other is in need of only one electron, then 2 single bonds will be formed. For example, the water molecule above. Previous | Next