Covalent and Ionic Bonds

[Shirley Wong 2E]

How do you determine whether a bond is covalent or ionic? If it's a covalent bond, how do you determine whether a bond is a polar covalent bond or a nonpolar covalent bond?

[Selina]

Check the electronegativity difference.

[Kim Vu 2G]

An ionic bond is usually between a metal and non-metal, where the negatively charged element with the higher ionization energy would attract the positively charged to form an octet in its valence electron. Covalent bonds are usually bonds between nonmetals in which the elements share valence electrons to complete their octet. When a bond is polar covalent, it means that there is uneven sharing of electrons between the atoms because the anion has more static attraction than the cation therefore it would pull the electron closer to its side, therefore covalent bond is the evenly sharing of atoms between the elements.