C3.5 - Covalent bonding

• Covalent bonding

  • 2 atoms of non-metals
  • Electrons are shared
  • No charge
• Each shared pair of electrons is a covalent bond
• Atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen join together to form stable molecules. The atoms H2, O2, and N2 are held together by strong covalent bonds. The image shows covalent bonding when each atom has the same number of electrons to share.

  
• Some atoms of one element will need several electrons, whilst those of the other element only need one more electron for each atom to get a stable electronic structure. The principles of covalent bonding remain the same however many atoms are involved - the atoms share one or more pairs of electrons to attain the electronic structure of a noble gas

  
• Many substances containing covalent bonds consist of simple molecules but some have giant covalent structures, where huge numbers of atoms are held together by a network of covalent bonds
• Lone pair is when a pair of electrons are not being shared