Question

FAN AND MEDAL
Explain the difference between covalent and ionic bonding. Include examples of each type (water and table salt) and explain what is going on. How does the hydrogen and oxygen bond and the sodium and the chlorine bond.

Answer 1

when an atom shares electrons....its covalent bonding
when an atom loses or gains electrons......its ionic bonding

Answer 2

In covalent bonding.....
The atomic number of hydrogen is 1 so it has 1 electron in its outer shell.
The atomic number of oxygen is 8 so it has 6 electrons in its outer shell.

Oxygen can share 1 electron with one hydrogen atom and a second electron with a second hydrogen atom, which has the effect of allowing all atoms to have a complete outer shell.

Answer 3

for ionic bonding............
The atomic number of sodium is 11.
It has an electronic configuration of 2, 8, 1. This means that it needs to lose the one electron which it has in its outer shell in order to have a complete outer shell.
The atomic number of chlorine is 17.
Chlorine has an electronic configuration of 2, 8, 7. This means it needs to gain one electron in order to have a complete outer shell.

When a sodium atom bonds with a chlorine atom the sodium atom loses its outer electron to form a positive ion while the chlorine atom gains an electron to form a negative ion.
The two atoms now have opposite charges and because opposite charges attract both atoms move off together as a sodium-chloride (NaCl) molecule.