The exact reasons for why atoms share electrons and bonds are a little beyond the scope of this article. If you want to learn more, try this article on the bond basics or WikiHow’s own How to Study the Nature of the Chemical Bond (Chemistry).
For example, in the molecule NaCl (sodium chloride), the chlorine atom has a fairly high electronegativity and the sodium has a fairly low one. Thus, the electrons will get pulled towards the chloride and away from the sodium.
Here is a link to an excellent electronegativity table. Note that this uses the Pauling electronegativity scale, which is the most common. [4] X Research source However, there are other ways to measure electronegativity, one of which will be shown below.
An atom’s electronegativity gets higher as you move to the right in the periodic table. An atom’s electronegativity gets higher as you move up in the periodic table. Thus, the atoms in the top right have the highest electronegativities and the atoms in the bottom left have the lowest ones. For example, in the NaCl example from above, you can tell that chlorine has a higher electronegativity than sodium because it’s almost all the way in the top right. On the other hand, sodium is far to the left, making it one of the lower-ranking atoms.
For example, if we’re looking at the molecule HF, we would subtract the electronegativity of hydrogen (2.
- from fluorine (4. 0). 4. 0 - 2. 1 = 1. 9
For example, the molecule O2 has this type of bond. Since the two oxygens have the same electronegativity, the difference between them is 0.
A good example of this is the molecule H2O (water). The O is more electronegative than the two Hs, so it holds the electrons more tightly and makes the entire molecule partially negative at the O end and partially positive at the H ends.
An example of this is NaCl (sodium chloride or salt). The chlorine is so electronegative that it pulls both electrons in the bond all the way towards itself, leaving sodium with a positive charge. NaCl can be broken apart by a polar molecule, such as H2O (water). In a water molecule, the hydrogen side of the molecule is positive, while the oxygen side is negative. When you mix the salt into the water, the water molecules break down the salt molecules, dissolving the salt. [9] X Research source
Metals include most of the atoms on the left side and the middle of the periodic table. This page has a table that shows which elements are metals. [10] X Research source Our HF example from above falls in this range. Since H and F aren’t metals, they have a polar covalent bond.
Metals include most of the atoms on the left side and the middle of the periodic table. This page has a table that shows which elements are metals. [10] X Research source Our HF example from above falls in this range. Since H and F aren’t metals, they have a polar covalent bond.
This is something you’ll probably have to look up in chemistry reference materials. This site has a good table you may want to use (scroll down to find it). [11] X Research source As an example, let’s say that we’re trying to find the electronegativity of lithium (Li). In the table on the site above, we can see that its first ionization energy is 520 kJ/mol.
The electron affinity of lithium is 60 kJ mol-1.
In our example, we would solve like this: ENMulliken = (1. 97×10−3)(Ei+Eea) + 0. 19 ENMulliken = (1. 97×10−3)(520 + 60) + 0. 19 ENMulliken = 1. 143 + 0. 19 = 1. 333
In our example, we would solve like this: ENMulliken = (1. 97×10−3)(Ei+Eea) + 0. 19 ENMulliken = (1. 97×10−3)(520 + 60) + 0. 19 ENMulliken = 1. 143 + 0. 19 = 1. 333
