What are Chemical Bonds

Chemical bonds are strong attractive forces that enable atoms or groups of atoms to hold together. The two major categories of chemical bonds are ionic and covalent bonds. In this chapter, we will discuss ionic bonds, covalent bonds, and other atomic and molecular interactions. 

The major force behind the formation of an ionic bond is the electrostatic attractive force that exists between negative and positive ions. It is formed by the transfer of one or more electrons from one atom to another. The atom that donates the electrons becomes positive (cation), and the counterpart atom that receives those electrons becomes negative (anion). The attractive force between two oppositely charged ions or species holds the atoms together in an ionic bond. 

In an ionic compound, any ion can attract not only the pairing ion or group, but it can also attract neighboring oppositely charged ions, resulting in strong ionic solids. 

Now let us take a look at an example to understand this better. The sodium fluoride (NaF) molecule is a result of ionic bond formation between sodium and fluoride ions. Together with this, you should also try to understand Lewis dot stmctures. Lewis structure will be discussed in detail later in this chapter. 

Lewis Electron-Dot Formulas Lewis electron-dot formulas are diagrammatic representations of the atoms involved and their valence electrons. The valence electrons are usually represented as dots around the elemental symbol. 

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