Valence Electrons

The electrons in the outermost shell are the valence electrons the electrons on an atom that can
be gained or lost in a chemical reaction. Since filled d or f subshells are seldom disturbed in a
chemical reaction, we can define valence electrons as follows: The electrons on an atom that are
not present in the previous rare gas, ignoring filled d or f subshells.

Gallium has the following electron configuration.

Ga: [Ar] 4s2 3d10 4p1

The 4s and 4p electrons can be lost in a chemical reaction, but not the electrons in the filled
3d subshell. Gallium therefore has three valence electrons.

Practice Problem 1:

Determine the number of valence electrons in neutral atoms of the following elements:

(a) Si

(b) Mn

(c) Sb

(d) Pb

Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 1

The Covalent Bond

Atoms can combine to achieve an octet of valence electrons by sharing electrons. Two fluorine
atoms, for example, can form a stable F2 molecule in which each atom has an octet of valence
electrons by sharing a pair of electrons.

A pair of oxygen atoms can form an O2 molecule in which each atom has a total of eight valence
electrons by sharing two pairs of electrons.

The term covalent bond is used to describe the bonds in compounds that result from the sharing of
one or more pairs of electrons.

How Sharing of Electrons Bonds Atoms

To understand how sharing a pair of electrons can hold atoms together, let's look at the simplest
covalent bond the bond that forms when two isolated hydrogen atoms come together to form an
H2 molecule.

H�+�H H-H
An isolated hydrogen atom contains one proton and one electron held together by the force of
attraction between oppositely charged particles. The magnitude of this force is equal to the product
of the charge on the electron (qe) times the charge on the proton (qp) divided by the square of the
distance between these particles (r2).

When a pair of isolated hydrogen atoms are brought together, two new forces of attraction appear
because of the attraction between the electron on one atom and the proton on the other.

But two forces of repulsion are also created because the two negatively charged electrons repel
each other, as do the two positively charged protons.

It might seem that the two new repulsive forces would balance the two new attractive forces. If this
happened, the H2 molecule would be no more stable than a pair of isolated hydrogen atoms. But
there are ways in which the forces of repulsion can be minimized. As we have seen, electrons
behave as if they were tops spinning on an axis. Just as there are two ways in which a top can spin,
there are two possible states for the spin of an electron: s = +1/2 and s = -1/2. When electrons are
paired so that they have opposite spins, the force of repulsion between these electrons is minimized.

The force of repulsion between the protons can be minimized by placing the pair of electrons
between the two nuclei. The distance between the electron on one atom and the nucleus of the other
is now smaller than the distance between the two nuclei. As a result, the force of attraction between
each electron and the nucleus of the other atom is larger than the force of repulsion between the two
nuclei, as long as the nuclei are not brought too close together.

The net result of pairing the electrons and placing them between the two nuclei is a system that is
more stable than a pair of isolated atoms if the nuclei are close enough together to share the pair of
electrons, but not so close that repulsion between the nuclei becomes too large. The hydrogen
atoms in an H2 molecule are therefore held together (or bonded) by the sharing of a pair of electrons
and this bond is the strongest when the distance between the two nuclei is about 0.074 nm.

Similarities and Differences Between Ionic and Covalent Compounds

There is a significant difference between the physical properties of NaCl and Cl2, as shown in the
table below, which results from the difference between the ionic bonds in NaCl and the covalent
bonds in Cl2.

Some Physical Properties of NaCl and Cl2

 NaCl Cl2
Phase at room temperature Solid Gas
Density 2.165 g/cm3 0.003214 g/cm3
Melting point 801�C -100.98�C
Boiling point 1413�C -34.6�C
Ability of aqueous solution
Conducts Does not conduct
to conduct electricity

Each Na+ ion in NaCl is surrounded by six Cl- ions, and vice versa, as shown in the figure below.
Removing an ion from this compound therefore involves breaking at least six bonds. Some of these
bonds would have to be broken to melt NaCl, and they would all have to be broken to boil this
compound. As a result, ionic compounds such as NaCl tend to have high melting points and boiling
points. Ionic compounds are therefore solids at room temperature.

Cl2 consists of molecules in which one atom is tightly bound to another, as shown in the figure
above. The covalent bonds within these molecules are at least as strong as an ionic bond, but we
don't have to break these covalent bonds to separate one Cl2 molecule from another. As a result, it
is much easier to melt Cl2 to form a liquid or boil it to form a gas, and Cl2 is a gas at room
temperature.

The difference between ionic and covalent bonds also explains why aqueous solutions of ionic
compounds conduct electricity, while aqueous solutions of covalent compounds do not. When a salt
dissolves in water, the ions are released into solution.

H2O
NaCl(s) Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

These ions can flow through the solution, producing an electric current that completes the circuit.
When a covalent compound dissolves in water, neutral molecules are released into the solution,
which cannot carry an electric current.

H2O
C12H22O11(s) C12H22O11(aq)

When two chlorine atoms come together to form a covalent bond, each atom contributes one
electron to form a pair of electrons shared equally by the two atoms, as shown in the figure below.
When a sodium atom combines with a chlorine atom to form an ionic bond, each atom still
contributes one electron to form a pair of electrons, but this pair of electrons is not shared by the
two atoms. The electrons spend most of their time on the chlorine atom.

Ionic and covalent bonds differ in the extent to which a pair of electrons is shared by the atoms that
form the bond. When one of the atoms is much better at drawing electrons toward itself than the
other, the bond is ionic. When the atoms are approximately equal in their ability to draw electrons
toward themselves, the atoms share the pair of electrons more or less equally, and the bond
is covalent. As a rule of thumb, metals often react with nonmetals to form ionic compounds or salts,
and nonmetals combine with other nonmetals to form covalent compounds. This rule of thumb is
useful, but it is also naive, for two reasons.

 The only way to tell whether a compound is ionic or covalent is to measure the relative
ability of the atoms to draw electrons in a bond toward themselves.
 Any attempt to divide compounds into just two classes (ionic and covalent) is doomed to
failure because the bonding in many compounds falls between these two extremes.

The first limitation is the basis of the concept of electronegativity. The second serves as the basis
for the concept of polarity.

Electronegativity

The relative ability of an atom to draw electrons in a bond toward itself is called the
electronegativity of the atom. Atoms with large electronegativities (such as F and O) attract the
electrons in a bond better than those that have small electronegativities (such as Na and Mg). The
electronegativities of the main group elements are given in the figure below.

When the magnitude of the electronegativities of the main group elements is added to the periodic
table as a third axis, we get the results shown in the figure below.
There are several clear patterns in the data in the above two figures.

 Electronegativity increases in a regular fashion from left to right across a row of the periodic
table.
 Electronegativity decreases down a column of the periodic table.

Using Electronegativity to Identify Ionic, Covalent, and Polar Covalent Compounds

When the difference between the electronegativities of the elements in a compound is relatively
large, the compound is best classified as ionic.

Example: NaCl, LiF, and SrBr2 are good examples of ionic compounds. In each case, the
electronegativity of the nonmetal is at least two units larger than that of the metal.

NaCl LiF SrBr2

Cl EN = 3.16 F EN = 3.98 Br EN = 2.96
Na EN = 0.93 Li EN = 0.98 Sr EN = 0.95
�������� �������� ��������
� � �
EN = 2.23 EN = 3.00 EN = 2.01

We can therefore assume a net transfer of electrons from the metal to the nonmetal to form positive
and negative ions and write the Lewis structures of these compounds as shown in in the figure
below.

These compounds all have high melting points and boiling points, as might be expected for ionic
compounds.

NaCl LiF SrBr2

MP 801oC 846oC 657oC
BP 1413oC 1717oC 2146oC

They also dissolve in water to give aqueous solutions that conduct electricity, as would be
expected.

When the electronegativities of the elements in a compound are about the same, the atoms share
electrons, and the substance is covalent.

Example: Examples of of covalent compounds include methane (CH4), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and
sulfur dioxide (SO2).

CH4 NO2 SO2

C EN = 2.55 O EN = 3.44 O EN = 3.44
H EN = 2.20 N EN = 3.04 S EN = 2.58
�������� �������� ��������
� � �
EN = 0.35 EN = 0.40 EN = 0.86

These compounds have relatively low melting points and boiling points, as might be expected for
covalent compounds, and they are all gases at room temperature.
 CH4 NO2 SO2
MP -182.5oC -163.6oC -75.5oC
BP -161.5oC -151.8oC -10oC

Inevitably, there must be compounds that fall between these extremes. For these compounds, the
difference between the electronegativities of the elements is large enough to be significant, but not
large enough to classify the compound as ionic. Consider water, for example.

H2O
O EN = 3.44
H EN = 2.20
��������
�
EN = 1.24

Water is neither purely ionic nor purely covalent. It doesn't contain positive and negative ions, as
indicated by the Lewis structure on the left in the figure below. But the electrons are not shared
equally, as indicated by the Lewis structure on the right in this figure. Water is best described as
a polar compound. One end, or pole, of the molecule has a partial positive charge ( +), and the
other end has a partial negative charge ( -).

As a rule, when the difference between the electronegativities of two elements is less than 1.2, we
assume that the bond between atoms of these elements is covalent. When the difference is larger
than 1.8, the bond is assumed to be ionic. Compounds for which the electronegativity difference is
between about 1.2 and 1.8 are best described aspolar, or polar covalent.

Covalent: EN < 1.2

Polar: 1.2 < EN < 1.8
Ionic: EN > 1.8

Practice Problem 2:

Use electronegativities to decide whether the following compounds are best described as either covalent,
ionic, or polar.

(a) Sodium cyanide (NaCN)

(b) Tetraphosphorus decasulfide (P4S10)

(c) Carbon monoxide (CO)

(d) Silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4)

Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2

 Limitations of the Electronegativity Concept

Electronegativity summarizes the tendency of an element to gain, lose, or share electrons when it
combines with another element. But there are limits to the success with which it can be applied.
BF3 ( EN = 1.94) and SiF4 ( EN = 2.08), for example, have electronegativity differences that lead
us to expect these compounds to behave as if they were ionic, but both compounds are covalent.
They are both gases at room temperature, and their boiling points are -99.9oC and -86oC,
respectively.

The source of this problem is that each element is assigned only one electronegativity value, which
is used for all of its compounds. But fluorine is less electronegative when it bonds to semimetals
(such as B or Si) or nonmetals (such as C) than when it bonds to metals (such as Na or Mg).

This problem surfaces once again when we look at elements that form compounds in more than one
oxidation state. TiCl2 and MnO, for example, have many of the properties of ionic compounds.
They are both solids at room temperature, and they have very high melting points, as expected for
ionic compounds.

TiCl2 MnO
MP = 1035oC MP = 1785oC

TiCl4 and Mn2O7, on the other hand, are both liquids at room temperature, with melting points
below 0oC and relatively low boiling points, as might be expected for covalent compounds.

TiCl4 Mn2O7
MP = -24.1oC MP = -20oC
BP = 136.4oC BP = 25oC

The principal difference between these compounds is the oxidation state of the metal. As the
oxidation state of an atom becomes larger, so does its ability to draw electrons in a bond toward
itself. In other words, titanium atoms in a +4 oxidation state and manganese atoms in a +7
oxidation state are more electronegative than titanium and manganese atoms in an oxidation state of
+2.

As the oxidation state of the metal becomes larger, the difference between the electronegativities of
the metal and the nonmetal with which it combines decreases. The bonds in the compounds these
elements form therefore become less ionic (or more covalent).

The Difference Between Polar Bonds and Polar Molecules

The difference between the electronegativities of chlorine (EN = 3.16) and hydrogen (EN = 2.20) is
large enough to assume that the bond in HCl is polar.
+ -

H Cl

Because it contains only this one bond, the HCl molecule can also be described as polar.

The polarity of a molecule can be determined by measuring a quantity known as the dipole
moment, which depends on two factors: (1) the magnitude of the separation of charge and (2) the
distance between the negative and positive poles of the molecule. Dipole moments are reported is
units of debye (d). The dipole moment for HCl is small: � = 1.08 d. This can be understood by
noting that the separation of charge in the HCl bond is relatively small ( EN = 0.96) and that the H-
Cl bond is relatively short.
C-Cl bonds ( EN = 0.61) are not as polar as H-Cl bonds ( EN = 0.96), but they are significantly
longer. As a result, the dipole moment for CH3Cl is about the same as HCl: � = 1.01 d. At first
glance, we might expect a similar dipole moment for carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which contains
four polar C-Cl bonds. The dipole moment of CCl4, however, is 0. This can be understood by
considering the structure of CCl4 shown in the figure below. The individual C-Cl bonds in this
molecule are polar, but the four C-Cl dipoles cancel each other. Carbon tetrachloride therefore
illustrates an important point: Not all molecules that contain polar bonds have a dipole moment.

COVALENT BONDING - SINGLE

BONDS

This page explains what covalent bonding is. It starts

with a simple picture of the single covalent bond, and
then modifies it slightly for A'level purposes.

It also goes on to a more sophisticated view involving

hybridisation. This isn't required by many UK-based
syllabuses at this level. However, if you can follow it,
it will make the bonding in organic compounds easier
to understand. I shall make use of it throughout the
rest of Chemguide.

You will find a link to a page on double covalent

bonds at the bottom of the page.

A simple view of covalent bonding

The importance of noble gas structures

At a simple level (like GCSE) a lot of importance is

attached to the electronic structures of noble gases
like neon or argon which have eight electrons in their
outer energy levels (or two in the case of helium).
These noble gas structures are thought of as being in
some way a "desirable" thing for an atom to have.

You may well have been left with the strong

impression that when other atoms react, they try to
achieve noble gas structures.
As well as achieving noble gas structures by
transferring electrons from one atom to another as in
ionic bonding, it is also possible for atoms to reach
these stable structures by sharing electrons to give
covalent bonds.

Some very simple covalent molecules

Chlorine

For example, two chlorine atoms could both achieve

stable structures by sharing their single unpaired
electron as in the diagram.

The fact that one chlorine has been drawn with

electrons marked as crosses and the other as dots is
simply to show where all the electrons come from. In
reality there is no difference between them.

The two chlorine atoms are said to be joined by a

covalent bond. The reason that the two chlorine
atoms stick together is that the shared pair of
electrons is attracted to the nucleus of both chlorine
atoms.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen atoms only need two electrons in their

outer level to reach the noble gas structure of helium.
Once again, the covalent bond holds the two atoms
together because the pair of electrons is attracted to
both nuclei.

Hydrogen chloride

The hydrogen has a helium structure, and the chlorine

an argon structure.

Covalent bonding at A'level

Cases where there isn't any difference from the

simple view

If you stick closely to modern A'level syllabuses,

there is little need to move far from the simple (GCSE)
view. The only thing which must be changed is the
over-reliance on the concept of noble gas structures.
Most of the simple molecules you draw do in fact have
all their atoms with noble gas structures.

For example:

Even with a more complicated molecule like PCl3,

there's no problem. In this case, only the outer
electrons are shown for simplicity. Each atom in this
structure has inner layers of electrons of 2,8. Again,
everything present has a noble gas structure.

Cases where the simple view throws up problems

Boron trifluoride, BF3

A boron atom only has 3 electrons in its outer level,

and there is no possibility of it reaching a noble gas
structure by simple sharing of electrons. Is this a
problem? No. The boron has formed the maximum
number of bonds that it can in the circumstances, and
this is a perfectly valid structure.

Energy is released whenever a covalent bond is

formed. Because energy is being lost from the system,
it becomes more stable after every covalent bond is
made. It follows, therefore, that an atom will tend to
make as many covalent bonds as possible. In the case
of boron in BF3, three bonds is the maximum possible
because boron only has 3 electrons to share.

Note: You might perhaps wonder why boron doesn't

form ionic bonds with fluorine instead. Boron doesn't
form ions because the total energy needed to remove
three electrons to form a B3+ ion is simply too great
to be recoverable when attractions are set up
 between the boron and fluoride ions.

Phosphorus(V) chloride, PCl5

In the case of phosphorus, 5 covalent bonds are

possible - as in PCl5.

Phosphorus forms two chlorides - PCl3 and PCl5. When

phosphorus burns in chlorine both are formed - the
majority product depending on how much chlorine is
available. We've already looked at the structure of
PCl3.

The diagram of PCl5 (like the previous diagram of

PCl3) shows only the outer electrons.

Notice that the phosphorus now has 5 pairs of

electrons in the outer level - certainly not a noble gas
structure. You would have been content to draw
PCl3 at GCSE, but PCl5 would have looked very
worrying.

Why does phosphorus sometimes break away from a

noble gas structure and form five bonds? In order to
answer that question, we need to explore territory
beyond the limits of most current A'level syllabuses.
Don't be put off by this! It isn't particularly difficult,
and is extremely useful if you are going to understand
the bonding in some important organic compounds.

A more sophisticated view of covalent bonding

The bonding in methane, CH4

Warning! If you aren't happy with describing

electron arrangements in s and p notation, and with
the shapes of s and p orbitals, you need to read
about orbitals before you go on.

Use the BACK button on your browser to return

quickly to this point.

What is wrong with the dots-and-crosses picture of

bonding in methane?

We are starting with methane because it is the

simplest case which illustrates the sort of processes
involved. You will remember that the dots-and-
crossed picture of methane looks like this.

There is a serious mis-match between this structure

and the modern electronic structure of carbon,
1s22s22px12py1. The modern structure shows that there
are only 2 unpaired electrons to share with
hydrogens, instead of the 4 which the simple view
requires.

You can see this more readily using

the electrons-in-boxes notation.
Only the 2-level electrons are
shown. The 1s2electrons are too
deep inside the atom to be involved in bonding. The
only electrons directly available for sharing are the 2p
electrons. Why then isn't methane CH2?

Promotion of an electron

When bonds are formed, energy is

released and the system becomes
more stable. If carbon forms 4
bonds rather than 2, twice as much
energy is released and so the
resulting molecule becomes even
more stable.

There is only a small energy gap

between the 2s and 2p orbitals, and
so it pays the carbon to provide a
small amount of energy to promote an electron from
the 2s to the empty 2p to give 4 unpaired electrons.
The extra energy released when the bonds form more
than compensates for the initial input.

The carbon atom is now said to be in an excited

state.

Note: People sometimes worry that the promoted

electron is drawn as an up-arrow, whereas it started
as a down-arrow. The reason for this is actually fairly
complicated - well beyond the level we are working
at. Just get in the habit of writing it like this because
it makes the diagrams look tidy!

Now that we've got 4 unpaired electrons ready for

bonding, another problem arises. In methane all the
carbon-hydrogen bonds are identical, but our
electrons are in two different kinds of orbitals. You
aren't going to get four identical bonds unless you
start from four identical orbitals.

Hybridisation

The electrons rearrange

themselves again in a process
called hybridisation. This
reorganises the electrons into four
identical hybrid orbitals called sp3hybrids (because
they are made from one s orbital and three p orbitals).
You should read "sp3" as "s p three" - not as "s p
cubed".

sp3 hybrid orbitals look a bit like half a

p orbital, and they arrange themselves
in space so that they are as far apart
as possible. You can picture the
nucleus as being at the centre of a tetrahedron (a
triangularly based pyramid) with the orbitals pointing
to the corners. For clarity, the nucleus is drawn far
larger than it really is.

What happens when the bonds are formed?

Remember that hydrogen's electron is in a 1s orbital -

a spherically symmetric region of space surrounding
the nucleus where there is some fixed chance (say
95%) of finding the electron. When a covalent bond is
formed, the atomic orbitals (the orbitals in the
individual atoms) merge to produce a new molecular
orbital which contains the electron pair which creates
the bond.

Four molecular orbitals are formed, looking rather like

the original sp3 hybrids, but with a hydrogen nucleus
embedded in each lobe. Each orbital holds the 2
electrons that we've previously drawn as a dot and a
cross.

The principles involved - promotion of electrons if

necessary, then hybridisation, followed by the
formation of molecular orbitals - can be applied to any
covalently-bound molecule.

Note: You will find this bit on methane repeated in

the organic section of this site. That article
on methane goes on to look at the formation of
carbon-carbon single bonds in ethane.

The bonding in the phosphorus chlorides, PCl3 and

PCl5

What's wrong with the simple view of PCl3?

This diagram only shows the outer (bonding)

electrons.

Nothing is wrong with this! (Although it doesn't

account for the shape of the molecule properly.) If you
were going to take a more modern look at it, the
argument would go like this:

Phosphorus has the electronic structure

1s22s22p63s23px13py13pz1. If we look only at the outer
electrons as "electrons-in-boxes":

There are 3 unpaired electrons that can be used to

form bonds with 3 chlorine atoms. The four 3-level
orbitals hybridise to produce 4 equivalent sp3 hybrids
just like in carbon - except that one of these hybrid
orbitals contains a lone pair of electrons.

Each of the 3 chlorines then forms a covalent bond by

merging the atomic orbital containing its unpaired
electron with one of the phosphorus's unpaired
electrons to make 3 molecular orbitals.

You might wonder whether all this is worth the

bother! Probably not! It is worth it with PCl5, though.

What's wrong with the simple view of PCl5?

You will remember that the dots-and-crosses picture
of PCl5 looks awkward because the phosphorus
doesn't end up with a noble gas structure. This
diagram also shows only the outer electrons.

In this case, a more modern view makes things look

better by abandoning any pretence of worrying about
noble gas structures.

If the phosphorus is going to form PCl5 it has first to

generate 5 unpaired electrons. It does this by
promoting one of the electrons in the 3s orbital to the
next available higher energy orbital.

Which higher energy orbital? It uses one of the 3d

orbitals. You might have expected it to use the 4s
orbital because this is the orbital that fills before the
3d when atoms are being built from scratch. Not so!
Apart from when you are building the atoms in the
first place, the 3d always counts as the lower energy
orbital.

This leaves the phosphorus with this arrangement of

its electrons:

The 3-level electrons now rearrange (hybridise)

themselves to give 5 hybrid orbitals, all of equal
energy. They would be called sp3d hybrids because
that's what they are made from.

The electrons in each of these orbitals would then

share space with electrons from five chlorines to
make five new molecular orbitals - and hence five
covalent bonds.

Why does phosphorus form these extra two bonds? It

puts in an amount of energy to promote an electron,
which is more than paid back when the new bonds
form. Put simply, it is energetically profitable for the
phosphorus to form the extra bonds.

The advantage of thinking of it in this way is that it

completely ignores the question of whether you've got
a noble gas structure, and so you don't worry about it.

If you are a teacher or if you are likely to do

chemistry at university: A paper published in 2007
suggests that this explanation is seriously flawed. If
you are likely to do chemistry at university level, you
will probably have to discard it later in favour of a
more accurate explanation. However, that
explanation is way beyond 16 - 18 year old level.

If you get asked about this at the equivalent of UK A

level, you will have to give the explanation above -
there is no alternative. Don't worry about it!

If you want a little bit more detail you will find it

on this page.

A non-existent compound - NCl5

Nitrogen is in the same Group of the Periodic

Table as phosphorus, and you might expect it to
form a similar range of compounds. In fact, it
doesn't. For example, the compound NCl3exists,
but there is no such thing as NCl5.

Nitrogen is 1s22s22px12py12pz1. The reason that

NCl5 doesn't exist is that in order to form five
bonds, the nitrogen would have to promote one
of its 2s electrons. The problem is that there
aren't any 2d orbitals to promote an electron
into - and the energy gap to the next level (the
3s) is far too great.

In this case, then, the energy released when the

extra bonds are made isn't enough to
compensate for the energy needed to promote
an electron - and so that promotion doesn't
happen.

Atoms will form as many bonds as possible

provided it is energetically profitable.
covalent bond, in chemistry, the interatomic linkage that results from the sharing of an electronpair between two
atoms. The binding arises from the electrostatic attraction of their nuclei for the same electrons. A covalent bond
forms when the bonded atoms have a lower total energy than that of widely separated atoms.
A brief treatment of covalent bonds follows. For full treatment, see chemical bonding: Covalent bonds.
Molecules that have covalent linkages include the inorganic substances hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, water, and
ammonia (H2, N2, Cl2, H2O, NH3) together with all organic compounds. In structural representations of molecules,
covalent bonds are indicated by solid lines connecting pairs of atoms;e.g.,

A single line indicates a bond between two atoms (i.e., involving one electron pair), double lines (=) indicate
a double bond between two atoms (i.e., involving two electron pairs), and triple lines (≡) represent a triple bond, as
found, for example, in carbon monoxide (C≡O). Single bonds consist of one sigma (σ) bond, double bonds have one
σ and one pi (π) bond, and triple bonds have one σ and two π bonds.
 IMAGES

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The idea that two electrons can be shared between two atoms and serve as the link between them was first
introduced in 1916 by the American chemist G.N. Lewis, who described the formation of such bonds as resulting
from the tendencies of certain atoms to combine with one another in order for both to have the electronic structure
of a corresponding noble-gas atom.
Covalent bonds are directional, meaning that atoms so bonded prefer specific orientations relative to one another;
this in turn gives molecules definite shapes, as in the angular (bent) structure of the H2O molecule. Covalent bonds
between identical atoms (as in H2) are nonpolar—i.e., electrically uniform—while those between unlike atoms are
polar—i.e., one atom is slightly negatively charged and the other is slightly positively charged. This partial ionic
character of covalent bonds increases with the difference in the electronegativities of the two atoms. See also ionic
bond.