Covalent Bonding Flashcards
In a covalent bond, what is a bonding pair?
A pair of electrons that are shared by both atoms.
What would happen when two covalently-bonded atoms became too close together?
Their nuclei and electrons would repel each other.
The bond keeps the atoms together at the ideal distance, keeping potential energy as low as possible and stabilizing the compound.
What is bond length?
The distance between the nuclei of bonded atoms.
What is bond order?
The number of electron pairs shared by bonded atoms.
What is the bond order of a double bond?
2 because two electron pairs are being shared.
What is bond energy?
The energy needed to overcome the attraction between nuclei and shared electrons in a covalent bond.
AKA bond strength or bond enthalpy.
Does a stronger bond have a higher or lower bond energy?
A stronger bond has a higher bond energy.
Do single bonds or double bonds have higher bond energy?
Double bonds have a higher bond energy.
Does a higher bond order cause a longer or shorter bond length?
A higher bond order causes a shorter bond length.
As bond length increases, does bond energy increase or decrease?
As bond length increases, bond energy decreases.
The nuclei are further away, so their bond is weaker.
What is reaction enthalpy?
The energy required to break the bonds of reactants plus the energy released when new bonds form in products.
If covalent bonding involves strong, localized bonds, then why do most molecular substances have low melting and boiling points?
Strong covalent bonds hold the atoms in a molecule together.
Weak intermolecular forces mean that molecules can easily be broken apart.
