Covalent bonding

• Covalent bonding is the electrostatic force of attraction between a shared pair of electrons and the nucleus of the atoms involved
• Covalent bonds are strong, therefore requiring a lot of energy to break
• Covalent bonding occurs between non-metals
• A group of one or more atoms held together by covalent bonds is called a molecule
• Properties of simple covalent compounds:

  -insoluble in water

  -low melting and boiling points

  -does not conduct electricity
• Simple covalent compounds have low melting/boiling points because the attractions between molecules are weak and it does not take much energy to break them
• Simple covalent compounds cannot conduct electricity as they do not have any charged particles