Covalent Bonding STRUCTURE AND BONDING

Question 1

What is covalent bonding?

Answer 1

Getting the stable electronic structure of a noble gas by sharing electrons.
The atoms in the molecules are held together by the shared pairs of electrons. These strong bonds are called covalent bonds.

Question 2

Give an example of a giant covalent structure?

Answer 2

Diamond - each carbons atom forms 4 covalent bonds.

Question 3

What are the properties of diamond?

Answer 3

Hard.
Very high melting and boiling points.
Cannot conduct electricity - there are no free electrons or ions to carry a charge no delocalised electrons because all the bonds are full.

Question 4

Graphite is another covalent structure, what are is properties?

Answer 4

Soft and slippery - the layers easily slide over each other due to weak forces of attraction that are easily broken.
Can conduct electricity - the structure is only joined with 3 carbon atoms, leaving a delocalised electron.

Question 5

What are the forces called that hold the atoms together in covalent bonds?

Answer 5

Intermolecular forced.

Question 6

What happens to the intermolecular forces as the size of the molecule increases?

Answer 6

They increase with the size of the molecules. Therefore, larger molecules have higher melting and boiling points.

Question 7

Talk about bonding in graphite.

Answer 7

There are no covalent bonds between the layers, only weak intermolecular forces. This means that the layers can slide over was just other easily.

Question 8

Why can graphite conduct electricity?

Answer 8

Due to the delocalised electron. Graphite only have 3 carbon covalent bonds. This means the delocalised electron can moves freely throughout the structure allowing it to conduct electricity.