STUDY GUIDE
The Great
Principles of
Chemistry
LECTURE 8
Covalent Bonds
Outline
0:00-10:09 – Covalent Bonds
• Covalent bonds form when nonmetals combine into molecules.
• G.N. Lewis was most responsible for describing this type of bonding. In 1916, he
published “The Atom and the Molecule,” in which he argued that atoms can
bond by sharing pairs of electrons.
• When two atoms form a covalent bond, they approach each other until their
orbitals overlap and create constructive interference, which increases the
likelihood of the electrons being found between the two nuclei.
o The two atoms draw closer together until they reach the equilibrium
bond distance.
o The equilibrium bond distance is the point at which the energy of the
two atoms is lowest and therefore most stable.
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• If an atom has a full outer shell of electrons, constructive interference will not
occur as the atom draws near another atom; instead, it will repel other atoms.
10:10-16:35 – The Lewis-Langmuir Rivalry
• While G.N. Lewis built a very successful and productive chemistry department at
the University of California, Berkley, he was not very outgoing and did not
participate regularly with the larger scientific community.
• Lewis proposed covalent bonding prior to the discovery of quantum mechanics.
o Chemists ignored his ideas because they were more interested in the
practical pursuits of synthesizing new compounds, rather than in
theoretical questions about the nature of bonding.
o Physicists rejected his ideas because their understanding of electrical
charges suggested that because electrons have negative charges, they
should repel one another and never occur in pairs.
• While Lewis was out of the country serving in World War I, Irving Langmuir
began to popularize Lewis’s ideas of shared electrons and coined the terms
“octet theory” and “covalent bond.”
o Langmuir was a talented speaker and more outgoing than Lewis, so
the theory became known as the Lewis-Langmuir theory.
o Lewis was annoyed that Langmuir received credit for his work and a
bitter rivalry continued between them until Lewis’s death.
16:36-23:02 – Lewis Structures
• Lewis proposed a model of the atom in which concentric cubes surround the
nucleus and electrons are located at the corners of the cubes.
o Atoms can share a pair of electrons by sharing two corners.
o Atoms can also share two pairs by sharing a face.
o This model could not represent triple bonds, so Lewis modified his
depiction into simple diagrams called Lewis structures.
• A Lewis structure depicts the valence electrons of the atoms of a compound,
and which atoms share them.
o Two dots represent a pair of electrons isolated to one atom.
o A single line represents a single bond involving two electrons.
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o A double line represents a double bond involving four electrons.
o A triple line represents a triple bond involving six electrons.
23:03-31:58 – Carbon
• Carbon plays a central role in the formation of covalent compounds because it is
a nonmetal with four valence electrons, so it can form four bonds.
o Carbon can form bonds with itself or with other elements in various
chains, rings, or branching structures.
o The variety of molecular structures involving carbon explains why an
entire subdiscipline of chemistry—organic chemistry—is dedicated to
the study of compounds involving carbon, which accounts for
approximately ninety-five percent of known compounds.
• Carbon can form in small molecules like carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, or
in long chains that involve hydrogen or a combination of other elements.
• Long carbon chains vary depending on how many bonds are formed between
the various carbon atoms, whether the carbon atoms form a ring or a straight
line, and whether other elements bond individually or as functional groups.
• Even carbon chains with the same molecular formula can vary from one another
based on how they branch along the chain. These different molecules that share
the same molecular formulas are called structural isomers.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How do covalent compounds differ from ionic compounds?
Who deserves credit for the recognition of covalent bonds, Lewis or Langmuir?
Why does carbon allow for such a great variety in forming molecules?
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NOTES
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