covalent bonding

• in covalent bonding, atoms share electrons with each other. these bonds are very strong.
• non metals form covalent bonds because they need to share electrons to make a full outer shell.
• covalent bonding explanation

  • a covalent bond is formed when a pair of electrons is shared between two atoms. these shared electrons are found in the outer shells of atoms.
• why do small covalent molecules have low melting and boiling points?

  the molecules vibrate, and as liquids move from place to place, the atoms in each molecule are held together by strong covalent bonds but there are very weak intermolecular forces. as temperature is increased, vibrations increase causing the weak intermolecular forces to be broken and they are turned into a gas by boiling.
• small covalent molecules do not conduct electricity as they don't carry an overall charge
• giant covalent substances

  • giant covalent substance - contains millions of strong covalent bonds
  • always solid at room temp (very high melting and boiling point) in order to melt or boil, you must break all of these bonds which takes a lot of energy
  • each carbon atom forms covalent bonds
  • giant lattice
• how does covalent bonding work?

  when atoms share pairs of electrons, they form covalent bonds. these bonds between atoms are strong. covalently bonded substances may consist of small molecules. atoms are shared in the outer shells.