Types of Bonds

[Shimran Kumar 1C]

How would you look at a compound and quickly determine it to be a covalent bond? Without actually working out electron sharing.

[Nienjou Claire 1E]

To put it simply, a covalent bond is a bond between 2 nonmetals. You can just look up the elements on the periodic table to determine if it is a nonmetal. They are to the right of the "staircase"-like divider.

[Shimran Kumar 1C]

Can I apply a similar logic to ionic and metallic bonds? If so, what is it?

[Nienjou Claire 1E]

Yes, you are exactly right! The only difference is that an ionic bond is a bond between a metal and a nonmetal and then a metallic bond is between 2 metals. Again, just look at the periodic table to determine whether an element is a nonmetal or metal.

[Mohamad Farhat 1L]

the last comment is right. But it may be more difficult to figure it out on an exam.

[Melissa_Aguirre1J]

Covalent bonds are pairs of shared electrons between atoms. This type of bonding occurs between two atoms of the same element or of elements close to each other in the periodic table. Thus, in order to determine this, you would have to look at the periodic table.

[ZachMoore1C]

The first comment about covalent bonds is correct. For the rest you would need a periodic table. (You’ll need one for covalent just to check if its a nonmetal)

[Chem_Mod]

Covalent bonds are between 2 nonmetals. Also if there is a single, double, or triple line in between 2 atoms this is a covalent bond. Hope this helps!

[Erin Li 1K]

A covalent bond would just be between two nonmetals while an ionic bond is between a nonmetal and a metal! just look at the two elements in the chemical equation

[Megan Phan 1K]

Covalent bond is a bond between two nonmetals, while an ionic bond is a bond between a nonmetal and a metal. You're able to easily discern this by looking at the elements of the equation from the periodic table.

[Rummel Requerme 1E]

It's dependent on the relationship between the two elements: if they are two non-metals, it is covalent. If only one is non-metal while the other is metal, it is ionic.