Term | Definition |
Electronegativity | the ability of an atom in an element to attract electrons in an compound |
Valence electrons | the electrons in the highest occupies level of an elements atoms |
Electron dot structures | Diagrams that show valence electrons in the atoms of an element as dots. |
Ions | an atom or molecule with a net charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons |
molecule | a neutral group of atoms joined together by covalent bonds |
The octet rule | states that in forming compounds, atoms tend to achieve the electron configuration of a noble gas |
Halide ion | a halogen atom bearing a negative charge |
Ionic compound | a compound composed of cations and anions. Electrically neutral. |
Ionic bond | The electrostatic forces that hold ions together in ionic compounds |
Chemical formula | Shows the number of atoms in each element in the smallest representative unit of a substance. |
formula unit | the lowest whole-number ratio of ions in an ionic compound |
The coordination number of an ion | the number of ions of opposite charges that surround the ion in a crystal. |
Metallic bond | the forces of attraction between the free-floating valence electrons and the positively charged (cations) metal ions. |
Alloys | mixtures of two or more elements, at least one in which is a metal. |
covalent bonds | atoms that are held together by sharing electrons are joined by this |
diatomic molecule | a molecule that contains two atoms |
molecular compound | a compound composed of molecules |
molecular formula | the chemical formula of a molecular compound |
single covalent formed | two atoms held together by sharing one pair of electrons are joined by this |
structural formula | represents the covalent bonds as dashes and shows the arrangement of covalently bonded atoms. |
unshared pair | A pair of valence electrons that is not shared between atoms |
double covalent bond | a bond that involves two shared pairs of electrons |
triple covalent bond | a bond formed by sharing three pairs of electrons |
coordinate covalent bond | a covalent bond in which one atom contributes boht bonding electrons |
polyatomic ion | a tightly bound group of atoms that has a positive or negative charge and behaves as a unit |
bond dissociation energy | the energy required to break the bond between two covalently bonded atoms |
nonpolar covalent bond | when the atoms in the bond pull equally, the bonding electrons are shared equally and each bond formed is this |
polar covalent bond | a covalent bond between atoms in which the electrons are shared equally |
polar molecule | one end of the molecule is slightly negative and the other end is slightly positive |
dipole | a molecule that has two poles is called a dipolar molecule or this |
van der Waales forces | the two weakest attractions between two molecules are collectively called this named after the dutch chemist. |
dipole interaction | this occurs when polar molecules are attracted to one another |
dispersion force | the weakest of all molecular interactions are caused by electrons |
hydrogen bonds | are attractive forces in which a hydrogen covalently bonded to a very electronegative atom is also weakly bonded to an unshared electron pair of another electronegative atom |
network solid | solids in which all of the atoms are covalently bonded to each other. |