Getting a Grip on Chemical Bonding

Part II delves into how bonding occurs between atoms, and how to distinguish between the types of bonds that are created. Bonding between atoms is important for all scientists to understand because it affects the properties and applications of materials in profound ways. In practice, there are about 

100 atoms that are stable enough to form bonds, but there are only three types of bonding known  

Covalent Covalent bonding stems from the sharing of electrons and the overlap and sharing of electrons orbitals between atoms. Covalent bonds are very strong as a result of this. Covalent bonds have directionality, or a preference for a specific orientation relative to one another, this results in molecules of interesting and specific shapes. As a result, elaborate molecules can be made that have specific structures and symmetry, which we describe in Chapter 7. 

Ionic Ionic bonding occurs when atoms donate or receive electrons rather than share them. One ion is positively charged, and it s balanced by an ion that is negatively charged they re known as the cation and the anion, respectively. Each ion is treated as if it s a spherical entity with no distortion of the electron orbital. See more information in Chapter 8. 

Metallic Metallic bonds are similar to ionic bonds, so we describe them both in Chapter 8. The main difference is that in metallic bonds the electrons are shared among all the other atoms in the metal materials. This is known as the delocalization of electrons because they are not found locally around one particular atom. This gives rise to many of the properties of metals. 

---