Covalent Bonding

Atoms · orbitals · shared electrons

Bonding experiment

Mission: bring two hydrogen atoms together and watch their valence electrons become a shared pair.

Nuclear separation1.80 Å

Energy packet0.0 eV

Electron animation1.00×

Bond order = shared electron pairs

Simulation speed1.00×

1.80 Åseparation

1bond order

0 kJ/molpotential energy

Nonpolarbond polarity

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Step 1 / 100%

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Bond order = number of shared electron pairs

Formal charge = valence electrons − nonbonding electrons − half of bonding electrons

Electronegativity difference helps predict bond polarity

At equilibrium: attractive and repulsive forces balance

Shared electrons are attracted to both nuclei; they do not sit motionless between atoms.
Covalent bonding does not require perfectly equal sharing.
Bond order, bond length and bond energy are related but not identical.

Water, oxygen, nitrogen, fuels, medicines, plastics, DNA and proteins depend on covalent bonds and molecular shape.

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