Differences in structures between ionic and covalent bonds

[Rylee Mangan 1K]

Are there differences to remember when drawing ionic bonds v. covalent bonds since the electrons are shared/distributed differently? Or are both bonds/molecules drawn following the same guidelines? Thanks!

[Giselle Granda 3F]

They are drawn a bit differently because in ionic bonds, electrons are being transferred, so the metal becomes a cation, while the nonmetal becomes an anion. In covalent bonds, electrons are being shared, so when you draw the lewis structure for a covalent bond, you show which electrons are shared by the nonmetals (either with dots or a line). A similarity between both is that the valence electrons are shown with dots (as pairs). Hope this helps!

[Nathan Tong 3G]

As stated above, for the covalent bonds you would draw the atoms with shared electrons as lines, or put the elements close enough so that they share the dots. With ionic bonds, the electrons are not shared. So you could differentiate the ionic bond by drawing brackets around each ion, and including the charge next to each ion. Hope this makes sense.

[Darren1j]

can someone simply explain why one is stronger than the other.

[Anthony_3C]

The ionic bond is stronger than the covalent bond because electric forces are strong, making ions harder to separate than the atoms sharing electrons in a covalent bond.

[Sid Panda 3A]

can someone simply explain why one is stronger than the other.

I agree with the post above me. Ion-ion interactions are much stronger than any other type of intermolecular force(dipole-dipole, London Dispersion, etc).

[Samudrala_Vaishnavi 3A]

The bonds are drawn the same way in terms of Lewis structures as the electron pairs are represented as dots. However, when you are drawing ionic bonds, the are no shared electrons represented but electrons are transferred from one "to be" cation to an anion that gains electrons. Both bonds can be between ions but the ways the electrons are represented and their BEHAVIOR are what make the difference. By the way, shared electron pairs mean that two electrons are drawn in between two elements meaning both elements share or own BOTH electrons at a time.

[anikamenon2H]

Darren,
The reason that ionic bonds are stronger than covalent bonds is that electrons are completely lost or gained, for example Na loses one electron and Cl gains one electron. In covalent bonds, the electrons are shared through electron clouds, so neither atom really possesses that electron, they just use it when they need it. Having or giving away the electron completely makes the bond much stronger.

Hope this helps!