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7: Covalent Bonds

  • Page ID
    118807
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    • 7.1: Covalent Lewis Structures: Electrons Shared
      Covalent bonds are formed when atoms share electrons. Lewis electron dot diagrams can be drawn to illustrate covalent bond formation. Double bonds or triple bonds between atoms may be necessary to properly illustrate the bonding in some molecules.
    • 7.2: A Molecular View of Elements and Compounds
      Most elements exist with individual atoms as their basic unit. It is assumed that there is only one atom in a formula if there is no numerical subscript on the right side of an element’s symbol. There are many substances that exist as two or more atoms connected together so strongly that they behave as a single particle. These multi-atom combinations are called molecules. The smallest part of a substance that has the physical and chemical properties of that substance.
    • 7.3: Electronegativity and Polarity: Why Oil and Water Don’t Mix
      Covalent bonds can be nonpolar or polar, depending on the electronegativities of the atoms involved. Covalent bonds can be broken if energy is added to a molecule. The formation of covalent bonds is accompanied by energy given off. Covalent bond energies can be used to estimate the enthalpy changes of chemical reactions.
    • 7.4: Naming Molecular Compounds
      Molecular compounds are inorganic compounds that take the form of discrete molecules. Examples include such familiar substances as water and carbon dioxide. These compounds are very different from ionic compounds like sodium chloride. Ionic compounds are formed when metal atoms lose one or more of their electrons to nonmetal atoms. The resulting cations and anions are electrostatically attracted to each other.
    • 7.5: Nomenclature Summary
      Brief overview of chemical nomenclature.
    • 7.6: Chemical Formulas: How to Represent Compounds
      A chemical formula is an expression that shows the elements in a compound and the relative proportions of those elements. A molecular formula is a chemical formula of a molecular compound that shows the kinds and numbers of atoms present in a molecule of the compound. An empirical formula is a formula that shows the elements in a compound in their lowest whole-number ratio.
    • 7.7: Formula Mass: The Mass of a Molecule or Formula Unit
      Formula masses of ionic compounds can be determined from the masses of the atoms in their formulas.
    • 7.8: Counting Molecules by the Gram
      The molecular mass of a substance is the sum of the average masses of the atoms in one molecule of a substance. Calculations for formula mass and molecular mass are described. Calculations involving conversions between moles of a material and the mass of that material are described. Calculations are illustrated for conversions between mass and number of particles.


    7: Covalent Bonds is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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