Covalent Bonds


Terms

Bond  -  That which holds together atoms in molecules and ions in lattices.
Bond Dipole  -  The direction and magnitude of the charge separation in a bond.
Bond Length  -  The distance between bonded nuclei.
Bond Strength  -  The amount of energy necessary to break a bond. The energy gives a measure of how hard it is to break a bond.
Closed Shell  -  An electron configuration with a full valence shell.
Coulomb's Law  -  A mathematical formula whose consequence is that negatively and positively charged particles attract each other and similarly charged species repel each other.
Covalent Bond  -  A bond that results from a sharing of electrons between nuclei.
Electronegativity  -  A measure of the ability of an atom to attract electrons to itself.
Formal Charge  -  The charge on an atom in a molecule as calculated by the rules outlined in Covalent Bonding, Heading .
Ion  -  A charged species created by the gain or loss of an electron from an atom or neutral molecule.
Ionic Bond  -  A bond that results from electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions. The cation is positively charged, while the anion is negatively charged.
Lattice  -  A regularly repeating three-dimensional array of atoms, molecules, or ions.
Lewis Structure  -  A description of a covalent bond whereby electrons are represented by dots and a bond is represented by placing a line between the two atoms in that bond. Only valence electrons are shown in Lewis structures.
Lone Pair  -  A nonbonding pair of electrons.
Molecule  -  A chemical species containing a covalent bond.
Molecular Geometry  -  The three dimensional structure and orientation of the atoms, bonds, and lone pairs in a molecule.
Octet  -  Eight electrons. For atoms other than H, the valence shell is filled with eight electrons. A filled valence gives the molecule a noble gas configuration and renders it stable.
Open Shell  -  An electron configuration with a partially filled valence shell.
Resonance Structure  -  One of several Lewis structures whose average represents an accurate depiction of the molecule not properly represented by one simple Lewis structure.
Valence Electron  -  An electron located in the valence shell.
Valence Shell  -  The orbitals with the highest occupied principle quantum number.
Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory  -  A theory used to predict bonding geometries that states that electron pairs will be distributed about the central atom to minimize electron pair repulsions.

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