We already know that atoms form molecules but how do they do it? The answer is: They bond. Atoms share electrons with each other, to establish bonds. If you want to know more on the electron part, see my post on Valence Electrons. Anyway, atoms don’t just bond in one way. There are several different ways. However, one of the strongest bonds is called the H bond.
As you might have guessed, H bonds are named after hydrogen. They are when atoms share just one electron. That is what gives the bond its strength. A good example of an compound that uses H bonds is methane. Four hydrogen atoms share one electron with a carbon. That’s four H bonds! That also must make methane a strong molecule. However, H bonds do have a very interesting thing. Polar Bonds.
What is a polar bond? A polar bond is a bond with negative and positive charge. An imbalance of protons and electrons. They are also called ionic bonds. A good example would be salt. It’s made up of sodium and chlorine. They bond by sharing an electron, but not like an H bond. You see, chlorine has 7/8 outer shell electrons. And sodium has 1/8 outer shell electrons. So, to solve the problem, sodium gives an electron to chlorine. The electron negatively charged chlorine, and the absence of an electron positively charged sodium. Then, since positive and negative charges are drawn to each other, they bond, becoming table salt. This is one of the most simplistic examples of ionic bonds. So, we’ve gone over iconic and H bonds, what other types of bonds are there?
There are double and triple bonds. Don’t be fooled by the fancy names. There just plain old electron sharing. A double bond is a bond that shares two electrons. A triple bond is one that shares three electrons. A good example of double bonding would be dioxide, two oxygen atoms double bonded to each other. The compound C2H2 would not be possible without two carbons triple bonding. And there it is! Ways that atoms bond!. H, ionic, double and triple. And those bonds create some weird stuff! What weird stuff? You’ll see…