Bonds between 1.5 and 2 [ENDORSED]

[Hussein Saleh 1L]

In class professor Lavelle talked about the difference between ionic and covalent bonds in terms of differences between electronegativity. My question is what type of bonds are found in between the difference of electronegativities of 1.5 and 2.

[Jocelyn Fermin1J]

If there is a metal involved in the formula when calculating the electronegativity and the answer is between 1.5-2.0 then it is ionic. If a nonmetal is involved and the electronegativity is between 1.5-2.0 it is polar/covalent. Why is the bond polar/covalent for nonmetals and ionic for metals?

[Corryn Doll]

The bond is ionic for metals because an ionic bond is formed by two oppositely charged ions and their attraction to one another. Ionic bonds form between a cation (which is generally a metal) and an anion (which is generally not a metal). The bond is polar/covalent for non-metals because it occurs through the sharing of electrons rather than ionic charge. Because of this, covalent bonds occur between two non-metals.

Here is a website that might help: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/bound ... nonmetals/

Hope this helped!! :)

[Cameron Smith 1I]

The closer the distance between the electronegativities is to 2 then the bond has more ionic character. The closer the distance between the electronegativities is to 1.5, the bond has more covalent character.

[Allen Chen 1J]

It is just a grey area where we are even more uncertain whether the bond has covalent or ionic character

[Beverly Shih 1K]

The numbers 1.5 and 2 are just guidelines. There are exceptions, like Mg-Cl bonds which have a difference in electronegativity of 1.85 but are ionic. For bonds between 1.5 and 2, it is just even harder to determine what type a bond is based solely on its electronegativity.