The name’s bond, ionic bond.
In the spirit of the latest 007 movie, Study Hut wants to talk about bonds. El Segundo Chemistry tutors have been talking bonds a lot lately with their chemistry students. In chemistry, there are two main types of bonds that you will run into (none of them named James!) and they are very different!
Covalent bonds
- Share the desired electron(s)-This means that the electron spends its time in the shells of both atoms in the bond
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- This sharing can be equal (nonpolar)….
- or unequal (polar)…
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If one atom has a stronger electronegativity (like attractiveness to an electron) then the shared electron will spend more time with that atom than the other, giving it a slightly negative charge and leaving the other one with a slightly positive charge.
- Occur between two nonmetals
Ionic bonds
- Steal the desired electron(s)-In this type of bond, the electron is not passed back and forth like a tennis ball. In this type of bond, one atom plucks the electron right out of the other atom’s valence shell and takes it for itself. Now one atom has an extra electron (now it has more electrons than protons so it has a NEGATIVE charge) and the other atom is short an electron (now it has less electrons than protons so it has a POSITIVE charge). Well these two differently charged atoms are attracted to each other and so they hang out together.
- Occur between a nonmetal and a metal.
This is because nonmetals have almost full valence shells (their p shell’s are so close to full!!) and metals have almost empty valence shells, so metals gladly give their valence electrons to the desperate nonmetals giving everyone an even 8 valence electrons.
For more on bonds and other chemistry help, come on in to El Segundo Study Hut right behind Starbucks. We’ve got plenty of El Segundo Chemistry tutors who would love to translate chemistry into a language that makes sense to you. Our one-on-one sessions guarantee that you will get the support you need to prepare for that test, bring up that grade, and pass that class!
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