Covalent Bonding and Structures of Covalently Bound Compounds

3 Covalent Bonding and Structures of Covalently Bound Compounds 

The basis of covalent bonding is also electrostatic, i.e., interaction between electric charges. But in this case the interactions that are important are those between the negative charges of electrons and the positive charges of the nnclei. 

19 Chemistry s View of the Material World Basic Principles 

The electrons around the nucleus actually fill up the space between the atoms. So, another way of representing a molecular structure is to fill the space that represents roughly the shape of an electron cloud in the molecule. This model is called space-flUed. They are exemplified by those in Fig. 19.8c. We will often use the simplest structural expression shown in Fig. 19.8a, because it shows clearly the connections (bonds) between atoms. The ball and stick representation is good at showing the three-dimensional relative arrangement of atoms, but often it can obscure some of the atoms, unless we rotate the molecule. The space-filled model is good at showing the overall three-dimensional structure. 

Let us consider another simple-looking molecule, N, dinitrogen, the major component of the air. Each nitrogen atom has five valence electrons available. One electron on each nitrogen atom binds in the manner of the a-bond. The second electron in (refer above) forms a n-bond. The third electron is in another p-orbital, say p,  

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