Why do two nonmetals form a covalent bond?
1. Depending on their partner atoms, nonmetals can create a variety of
bonds. Ionic bonds are formed when electrons are exchanged between a
nonmetal and a metal, whereas covalent bonds are formed when electrons
are shared between two nonmetals.
What does the word covalent mean?
2. It means relating to or denoting chemical bonds formed by the sharing of
electrons between atoms.
How can you tell how many covalent bonds an element will make? Why will oxygen form two
covalent bonds?
3. Because oxygen requires two shared electrons to fill its outermost shell,
two covalent bonds occur between the two oxygen atoms. Because each
nitrogen atom requires three electrons to fill its outermost shell, nitrogen
atoms will form three covalent bonds (also known as triple covalent)
between two atoms of nitrogen.
Why is hydrogen happy with just two shared electrons?
4. One valence electron exists in each hydrogen atom. Each Hydrogen
atom only requires one electron since it can only fit two valence
electrons in its orbital. Because each atom only has one valence
electron, they can simply share it, giving each atom two electrons.
Describe why two nitrogen atoms will share three pairs of electrons in their diatomic molecule.
Molecular nitrogen is made up of two nitrogen atoms that are triple bonded to each
other. As with other molecules, the sharing of these three pairs of electrons allows the
outer electron shells of the two nitrogen atoms to be filled, making the molecule more
stable than the individual nitrogen atoms.
6.
Explain why covalent compounds are not conductive.
Because covalent compounds do not contain charged particles capable of transferring
electrons, they do not conduct electricity. The bond length is also taken into account by
Lewis's theory: the stronger the bond and the more electrons shared, the shorter the
bond length.