Covalent bonding

Question 1

What is a covalent bond?

Answer 1

When non-metal atoms bond together they share pairs of electrons to make covalent bonds

The positive nuclei of the bonded atoms are attracted to the shared pair of electrons by electrostatic forces, making covalent bonds very strong

Atoms only share electrons in their outer shells

Every single covalent bond provides one extra electron to be shared

Each atom involved generally makes enough covalent bonds to fill its outer shell making them very stable

happens in compounds of non metals like H2Oand in non-metal elements Cl2

Question 2

How can you use dot and cross diagrams to show covalent bonding? why are they useful?

Answer 2

Electrons are drawn in-between the overlap of the outer orbitals of the atoms

showing which atoms the electrons involved in the covalent bond come from