Q: What is a chemical bond? A: A chemical bond is a lasting attraction between atoms that enables the formation of chemical compounds.
- Q: What is an ionic bond? A: An ionic bond is a type of chemical bond formed through the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions. This type of bond usually occurs between a metal and a nonmetal.
- Q: What is a covalent bond? A: A covalent bond is a type of chemical bond where two atoms share a pair of electrons. This type of bond typically occurs between nonmetals.
- Q: How does a polar covalent bond differ from a nonpolar covalent bond? A: In a polar covalent bond, electrons are shared unequally between atoms due to differences in electronegativity. In a nonpolar covalent bond, the electrons are shared equally because the atoms have similar electronegativities.
- Q: What is a metallic bond? A: A metallic bond is a type of chemical bond that arises from the electrostatic attractive force between conduction electrons and positively charged metal ions.
- Q: How does a hydrogen bond differ from a covalent bond? A: A hydrogen bond is a weak type of force that forms a special type of dipole-dipole attraction which occurs when a hydrogen atom bonded to a strongly electronegative atom exists in the vicinity of another electronegative atom with a lone pair of electrons. Covalent bonds, on the other hand, involve the sharing of electrons between atoms.
- Q: What is a single bond, a double bond, and a triple bond? A: Single, double, and triple bonds refer to the number of shared pairs of electrons between two atoms in a molecule. A single bond shares one pair of electrons, a double bond shares two pairs, and a triple bond shares three pairs.
- Q: What is meant by the term “bond energy”? A: Bond energy, also known as bond enthalpy, is the amount of energy required to break a bond in a molecule to form individual atoms.
- Q: How is bond length related to bond strength? A: Generally, the shorter the bond length, the stronger the chemical bond. This is because atoms are closer together and therefore the attractive forces between them are greater.
- Q: What is an intermolecular force? A: An intermolecular force is a force that mediates interaction between molecules, including forces of attraction or repulsion which act between molecules and other types of neighboring particles.
- Q: How does the Lewis structure of a molecule help us understand its bonding? A: Lewis structures visually represent the valence electrons and bonding in a molecule, helping us to predict the shape of the molecule and understand how the atoms are bonded together.
- Q: What is meant by the term “polarity” in relation to a chemical bond? A: Polarity in a chemical bond refers to the distribution of electrical charge around the molecule. If the charge is unevenly distributed, the bond is polar; if the charge is evenly distributed, the bond is nonpolar.
- Q: What is a dipole moment? A: A dipole moment is a measure of the polarity of a system of charges. In the context of chemical bonds, it refers to the difference in electronegativity between the bonded atoms.
- Q: How is resonance used to represent certain molecules? A: Resonance is used to represent certain molecules that cannot be adequately described by a single Lewis structure. These molecules are represented by several structures, known as resonance forms, which are an average of the molecule’s true structure.
- Q: What is the octet rule? A: The octet rule is a chemical rule of thumb that states that atoms tend to combine in such a way that they each have eight electrons in their valence shells, similar to the electron configuration of a noble gas.
- Q: What is a dative bond? A: A dative bond, also known as a coordinate covalent bond, is a type of covalent bond where one atom provides both of the electrons and the other atom does not contribute any in the bonding pair.
- Q: How does the valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory help predict the shape of a molecule? A: The VSEPR theory predicts the shape of a molecule based on the premise that electron pairs around a central atom will configure themselves to minimize repulsion, thus determining the geometry of the molecule.
- Q: What does the term “hybridization” refer to in the context of atomic orbitals? A: Hybridization refers to the combination of atomic orbitals on a single atom to form new hybrid orbitals, which can accommodate bonding and non-bonding electrons and explain the geometry of the molecule.
- Q: What are van der Waals forces? A: Van der Waals forces are weak intermolecular forces resulting from instantaneous dipoles in molecules. They include forces resulting from induced dipoles (London dispersion forces) and permanent dipoles (dipole-dipole forces).
Q: What is a sigma bond and a pi bond? A: A sigma bond (σ bond) is the strongest type of covalent bond, formed by the end-to-end overlapping of atomic orbitals. A pi bond (π bond) is a weaker covalent bond, formed by the side-to-side overlapping of atomic orbitals. A single bond is a sigma bond, while double bonds consist of one sigma bond and one pi bond, and triple bonds consist of one sigma bond and two pi bonds.
