Chemical Reactions Links

Chemical Bonding

There are three main types of chemical bonds - covaleant, ionic, and hydrogen. Let's go through the specifics of each type.

Covalent Bonds

Covalent bonds are the strongest kinds of bonds. Inside an atom there are electrons and these electrons are arragned according to energy level. Higher energy electrons are near the nucleus, while lower energy electrons are farthest from the nucleus. The electrons that are the farthest away from the nucleus are called the valence electrons.

Covalent bonds happen when two atoms share the same pair of valence electrons. Watch the video below to get a better idea.

The most important things to remember about covalent bonding:

They are very strong

The electrons between the two atoms are SHARED

Ionic Bonds

Ionic bonds are very different from covalent bonds. In this case the donating atom will give up an electron to become more positive (+) while the accepting atom will gain an electron to become more negative (-).

You may already know that opposites attract (positive and negative are opposites) and so these two molecules will be attracted to each other based on charge (+) and (-).

The electron donating atom is called a cation and they are written with a little plus sign (+) after their atomic symbol. The accepting atom is called an anion and they are written with a little negative (-) sign after their atomic symbol.

Hydrogen Bonds

Hydrogen bonding occurs between two hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen is special in many ways. On eof these ways is that it contains only one single electron. This makes it a highly reactive element that wants to combine with other molecules that are looking to share electrons.

Watch this video first

When a hydrogen atom bonds to another electronegative atom via covelant bonding, and is then subsequently attracted to a third electronegative atom, a hydrogen bond occurs.