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I’m not understanding the difference between ionic and covalent bonding?
Sodium has 1 valence electron. Chlorine has 7. The sodium gives away that electron to the chlorine. But now they both have 8 electrons. So aren’t they technically sharing electrons? They’re sharing 8 electrons, right? How is this flawed logic? Thanks.
I actually figured it out. It depends on the electro negativity.
1 Answer
- hcbiochemLv 72 weeks ago
Once the electron has been transferred from sodium to chlorine, you now have a positively charged sodium ion (Na^+) and a negatively charged chloride ion (Cl^-). There is no tendency at all for the transferred electron to leave the chloride ion and return to the sodium ion. These two oppositely charged particles are very strongly attracted to each other, and that attraction is called an ionic bond. When they bond to each other, they are not sharing any of their electrons. They are simply bonding because of their opposite charges.
In a covalent bond, the electrons that are being shared are truly being shared between the two atoms. So, for example, in Cl2, one pair of electrons is held between the two atoms and is "felt" or "seen" by both of the atoms that are bound together. There is no transfer of one electron to the other here.
Hope that helps, a bit.