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Unit 2: Chemical Bonds

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    95666
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    Compounds are pure substances that are composed of more than one element. Ionic compounds are held together by electrostatic attractions between cations and anions. Most cations are metal elements, which have electron configurations with three or fewer valence electrons, and most anions are nonmetal elements, which have five to seven valence electrons. The charge of cations is positive and the number of electrons lost and the charge of anions is negative and the number of electrons gained. The number of electrons gained or lost leads to a stable, noble gas electron configuration. After electrons are transferred the ions combine to form a crystal lattice. The number of cations and anions is not always one-to-one in the chemical formula, but must be in a ratio that makes the number of electrons lost and gained be equal. This chemical formula of an ionic compound shows the ratio of elements using subscripts to denote the number of elements.

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      This page titled Unit 2: Chemical Bonds is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Kenneth Pringle.

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