Bonding key terms

Ionic bond

A chemical bond formed by the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions.

Electrostatic attraction

The force that draws ions of opposite charge together, forming an ionic bond.

Ionic Bond

A chemical bond formed through the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions.

Ionic Lattice

A regular, repeating arrangement of ions in a solid ionic compound.

Lattice energy

The energy released when gaseous ions combine to form one mole of an ionic solid; a measure of ionic bond strength.

Born–Landé equation

A quantitative expression for lattice energy: U = -(N_A·M·z⁺·z⁻·e²)/(4πϵ₀·r₀)(1-1/n), linking charge, radius, Madelung constant, and Born exponent.

Lattice energy

The energy released when gaseous ions combine to form one mole of an ionic solid, reflecting the strength of electrostatic forces in the crystal lattice.

Coulombic attraction

The electrostatic force of attraction between oppositely charged ions, which is the primary force holding an ionic lattice together.

Covalent bond

A chemical bond formed by the sharing of a pair of electrons between two atoms.

Shared electron pair

Two electrons that are simultaneously associated with two different atoms, constituting the basis of a covalent bond.

VSEPR

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory, used to predict molecular geometry based on minimising repulsion between electron pairs around a central atom.

Seesaw shape

The molecular geometry of a molecule with five electron domains where one domain is a lone pair, resulting in a shape that resembles a seesaw.

Lone pair

A pair of valence electrons that is not shared with another atom and is localized on a single atom.

VSEPR theory

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory, which predicts molecular geometry based on the repulsion between electron pairs around a central atom.

VSEPR Theory

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory, which predicts the geometry of molecules based on the repulsion between electron pairs.

Bond Angle

The angle formed between two bonds that originate from the same atom.

Metallic Bonding

The type of chemical bonding that occurs between metal atoms, characterized by the attraction between positively charged ions and a sea of delocalised electrons.

Delocalised Electrons

Electrons that are not bound to any specific atom and can move freely within a metallic structure, contributing to conductivity.

Delocalized electrons

Electrons that are not associated with a single atom or bond and can move freely within a metallic structure, contributing to electrical conductivity.

Metallic bonding

The type of chemical bonding that occurs between metal atoms, characterized by a 'sea of electrons' that are free to move and hold the metal ions together.

Delocalized electrons

Electrons that are not associated with a single atom or a covalent bond and can move freely within the metallic structure, contributing to conductivity and malleability.

Metallic lattice

A regular arrangement of metal cations surrounded by a sea of delocalized electrons, which holds the structure together and allows for the properties of metals.

Delocalized electrons

Electrons that are not associated with a single atom or bond but are free to move throughout the metallic structure.

Metallic lattice

A regular arrangement of metal ions surrounded by a sea of delocalized electrons, which characterizes metallic bonding.

Electronegativity

The ability of an atom to attract bonding electrons.

Bond Polarity

A measure of how equally the electrons in a bond are shared between two atoms.

Electronegativity

The ability of an atom to attract electrons in a chemical bond.

Polar bond

A covalent bond between two atoms with different electronegativities, resulting in a partial charge.

Dipole moment

A measure of the separation of positive and negative charges in a molecule, indicating its polarity.

Electronegativity

The tendency of an atom to attract electrons towards itself in a chemical bond.