Covalent Bonding

Structure and Bonding:

Covalent Bonding

• Covalent bonds are formed when atoms share pairs of electrons.
• Many substances containg covalent bonds consist of simple molecules, but some have giant covalent structures.

Reactions between metals and non-metals usually result in ionic bonding where as reactions between non-metals together result in atoms sharing electrons to form molecules through covalent bonding.

Simple Molecules:

The atoms on non-metals usually have a nearly full shell and need to gain atoms to acheive a full outer shell, this means when they react together they share a pair of electrons which we call covalent bonding. For example, two hydeogen atoms willl bond to make H2, also, two hydrogen atoms will form with an oxygen atom to form a water molecule (H2O).

Giant Covalent Structures:

Many substances containg covalent bonds consist of small molecules, however some covalently bonded sunstances have a huge number of atoms that are held together by lots of covalent bonds. Diamond is one of these giant covalent structures. Each carbon atom in diamond makes four bonds making it very rigid.

Covalent bonding only…