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Covalent vs Ionic Bonding Explained

This document discusses different types of bonds between atoms: - Purely covalent bonds involve equal sharing of electrons between two atoms like in O2. - Polar covalent bonds occur when electrons are closer to one atom, giving it a partial charge, like between C and Cl. - Ionic bonds form when one atom donates an electron to another, like in NaCl. - More complex molecules can have both ionic and covalent character in their bonds, and the overall polarity is determined by vector addition of the individual bond polarities.

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882 views2 pages

Covalent vs Ionic Bonding Explained

This document discusses different types of bonds between atoms: - Purely covalent bonds involve equal sharing of electrons between two atoms like in O2. - Polar covalent bonds occur when electrons are closer to one atom, giving it a partial charge, like between C and Cl. - Ionic bonds form when one atom donates an electron to another, like in NaCl. - More complex molecules can have both ionic and covalent character in their bonds, and the overall polarity is determined by vector addition of the individual bond polarities.

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BIALIGY
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Ionic and Covalent Bonding

David Du
[Link]

October 2020

§1 Introduction
There are many bonds between atoms that bind molecules together. Most bonds can be either described
on a scale between covalent and ionic, where covalent bonds entail a sharing of electrons whereas ionic
bonds entail one atom donating an electron, which is shown in the following.

§2 Pure Covalent Bond


Consider
A B
If the electrons are found on average in the middle, the bond and sharing of electrons is equally balanced.
Usually to get the average in the middle, A = B. This type of bond is called a purely covalent bond. An
example of a pure covalent bond would be O2

§3 Polar Covalent Bond


Suppose
δ− δ+
A B
Here the electrons are found on average closer to A than B. This means that electrons are slightly more
closer to A than B, which gives A a partial electrical charge. An example of a polar covalent bond would
be the bond between C and Cl. Different bonds between different atoms have different polarities, which
is influenced by how electronegative an atom compared to the other.

§3.1 Polar Bonds


What happenes when electrons as way closer to A than B. We would consider this a ionic bond. Essen-
tially, B is donating an electron to A.
A− B+
An exaple of an ionic bond would be NaCl. This implies that there is a specturm of bonds, there is no
clear cut division between Ionic and Covalent bonds. What about more complicated molecules?

§4 More Complicated Structures


Let’s look at CH4 Let’s look at CH3 Cl

1
Ionic and Covalent Bonding [Link] David Du

Figure 1: Even though each bond is polar covalent, by vector addition, the vectors cancel out so the total
polarity is zero.

Figure 2: Though each bond is polar, the C-Cl bond is more polar, so by vector addiiton the total polarity
is nonzero.

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