INTERATOMIC

BONDS
TUTOR: COURAGE AGBONU (EXPLOIT)
CONTACT: [email protected]
Learning objectives
At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:
1. understand that a chemical bond is an attractive
force between two particles;
2. describe the formation and general properties of
substances containing ionic, covalent and
metallic bonds;
3. draw electron dot/cross structures of simple ionic
and covalent compounds;
4. understand the origin of polarity within
molecules;
5. recognise that no bond is totally pure.
 INTERATOMIC BONDS
Atoms of many elements combine with each other or
atoms of other elements to form bonds. All bonds involve
valence electrons.
Bonds are formed in order to achieve a more stable outer
electronic configuration of 2 (called a doublet) or 8 (called
an octet). This is done by losing and gaining, sharing or
freeing (delocalizing) electrons from the electronic
configuration.
The gain and loss of electrons results in ionic bonds.
Covalent bonds are the product of sharing of electrons and
metallic bonds are formed from delocalization of electrons.
Based on this, there are three types of
interatomic bonds. These are;
Ionic bonds
Covalent bonds
Metallic bonds
 IONIC (ELECTROVALENT) BONDS
An ionic bond is the electrostatic force of
attraction between a positively charged ion
(cation) and a negatively charged ion (anion).
The cation is formed by loss of electrons and the
anion by gain of electrons, all to form a stable
inert gas electronic configuration.
The electrons are lost by the electropositive
elements (metals, with low ionization energy)
and are gained by the electronegative elements
(non-metals, with high electron affinities).
Elements in groups 1, 2, and 3 eg lithium, sodium,
potassium magnesium and aluminium have low
electronegativity. These elements easily form ionic
bonds with elements in groups 5, 6, and 7 eg fluorine,
chlorine, oxygen, Sulphur and nitrogen.
The following conditions favour the formation if ionic
bonds:
(i) species losing electrons must have low ionization
energy
(ii) species gaining electrons must have high electron
affinity
(iii) high electronegativity difference between the
combining atoms.
In the formation of ionic bonds, the metal losses
electron(s) and become positively charged. The
non-metal gains electron(s) and become
negatively charged. Then the opposite charges
on the species attract (electrostatic force) to form
a crystalline compound in which the units that
occur at the lattice sites are the ions.
Examples of ionic compounds are NaCl, MgO, ,
Mg, CaO, , etc.
The bonding in NaCl is shown below The bonding in MgO is shown below
 PROPERTIES OF IONIC
COMPOUNDS
They are crystalline solids at room temperature with
high melting and boiling points. (Crystals are
substances with rough feel). An example is common
salt.
They dissolve in polar solvents eg water. This is
because water has partial charges and are able to
pull ions in the ionic crystal apart.
They conduct electricity in the molten state or
aqueous solution (not in their solid state). This is
because in solution or molten form, their ions are
free to move.
They are brittle and are easily broken into pieces.
 COVALENT BONDS
Covalent bonds involve the sharing of an electron
pair between two atoms. The electrons in the
electron pair are donated by each of the
participating atoms. The shared electron pair holds
the two participating atoms together. Covalently
bonded substances usually exist as molecules.
Valence electrons which are actually donated and
shared to form a covalent bond are called bonding
electrons. Those which are not shared but help in
giving the atoms their octet configuration are called
non-bonding electrons. A pair of non-bonding
electrons is called a lone pair.
In the formation of covalent bonds, the valence shells
of the participating atoms overlap. The shared pair(s)
of electrons exist in the overlap region. These shared
pair of electrons hold the two participating atoms
together.
Examples of covalent substances are;
(i) molecular covalent substances eg HCl, , ,
(ii) giant covalent substances eg , diamond
Types of covalent bonds are;
Dative (coordinate) covalent bonds
Polar covalent bonds
Non-polar covalent bonds
Dative Covalent Bonds
A covalent bond formed between two atoms in
which one atom alone donates the shared pair of
electrons is known as dative bond.
A dative bond is usually formed between an atom
which has an empty orbital (an atom which is
short of a stable electronic configuration by two
electrons) and another atom has a pair of
electrons to offer.
For example, has no electrons and needs two
electrons to form its doublet. : on the other hand
has a lone pair of electrons on its nitrogen.
So the nitrogen offers its lone pair so as to form .
Other examples are seen in the formation of and
CO.
Polar Covalent Bonds
A difference in electronegativity between atoms
forming a covalent bond causes the more
electronegative atom to attract the shared
electrons more to itself. This more electronegative
atom acquires a partial negative charge and the
less electronegative atom acquires a partial
positive charge (called dipoles). The bond formed
is called a polar covalent bond.
The bond is polarized negatively towards the
more electronegative atom and this introduces a
slight ionic character into the covalent bonds.
Electronegativity decreases down a group and
increases across a period from left to right. Noble
gases have zero electronegativity with halogens
having the highest electronegativity.

Examples are seen in molecules such as HCl, HF,

HBr, , , etc.
Some molecules have polar bonds but the
molecules as a whole are non-polar. An example is .
Non-polar Covalent Bonds
A covalent bond between two atoms of the same
elements eg , , , , etc are described as non-polar
(also called pure covalent bonds). This is because
the two atoms have the same electronegativity
and attract the shared electrons equally.
The equality of electronegativity accounts for the
absence of partial on the bonding atoms.
 PROPERTIES OF COVALENT BONDS
Covalent Compounds Are Poor Conductors
Covalent compounds are almost always good
insulators of both electricity and heat. Electricity is
not able to conduct efficiently through covalent
compounds because there are no ions to move the
electrical charge.
Covalent Compounds Have Low Melting and
Boiling Points
In covalent compounds, all molecules are bound
only weakly to neighboring molecules;
therefore, it takes very little energy to separate
covalent molecules from one another
 METALLIC BONDING
Metallic bonds occur among metal atoms. Metallic
bonding joins a bulk of metal atoms. A sheet of
aluminum foil and a copper wire are both places
where you can see metallic bonding in action. The
electrons can move freely within these molecular
orbitals, and so each electron becomes detached
from its parent atom. The electrons are said to be
delocalized. The metal is held together by the
strong forces of attraction between the positive
nuclei and the delocalized electrons.
The strength of a metallic bond increases with
increasing number of valence electrons (delocalized
electrons). For example the metallic bonding in
Magnesium is stronger than that of sodium. This is
because magnesium has 2 valence while sodium has
1.
A strong metallic bond will be the result of more
delocalized electrons, which causes the effective
nuclear charge on electrons on the cation to
increase, in effect making the size of the cation
smaller. Metallic bonds are strong and require a
great deal of energy to break, and therefore metals
have high melting and boiling points.
 !!!! CONGRATULATIONS !!!!

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