Atoms form chemical bonds to make their outer electron shells more stable. An ionic bond, where one atom essentially donates an electron to another, forms when one atom becomes stable by losing its outer electrons and the other atoms become stable (usually by filling its valence shell) by gaining the electrons.

There are four types of bonds or interactions: ionic, covalent, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals interactions.

Three types of chemical bonds are important in human physiology, because they hold together substances that are used by the body for critical aspects of homeostasis, signaling, and energy production, to name just a few important processes. These are ionic bonds, covalent bonds, and hydrogen bonds.

Identifying Types of Bonds

1. Look at the chemical formula.
2. Identify the elements in the compound.
3. Determine if the elements are metals or nonmetals (using a periodic table)
4. Metal – Metal = Metallic.
5. Metal – Nonmetal = Ionic.
6. Nonmetal — Nonmetal = Covalent.

The single line representation for a bond is commonly used in drawing Lewis structures for molecules. Because of the nature of ionic and covalent bonds, the materials produced by those bonds tend to have quite different macroscopic properties.

A chemical bond holds two atoms together. To break the bond, you have to fight against the bond, like stretching a rubber band until it snaps. Doing this takes energy. As an analogy, think of atoms as basketballs.

A water molecule consists of two atoms of hydrogen linked by covalent bonds to the same atom of oxygen. Atoms of oxygen are electronegative and attract the shared electrons in their covalent bonds.

Strong linkages—called covalent bonds—hold together the hydrogen (white) and oxygen (red) atoms of individual H2O molecules. Covalent bonds occur when two atoms—in this case oxygen and hydrogen—share electrons with each other.

A covalent bond is a chemical bond that involves the sharing of electron pairs between atoms. These electron pairs are known as shared pairs or bonding pairs, and the stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms, when they share electrons, is known as covalent bonding.

Potassium sulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula K2S. … The molecule is formed by two potassium cation K+ and one sulfide anions S2-. The two ions are bound trough ionic bond.

In a covalent compound, valence electrons are shared between the two atoms in the bond….Part A: Covalent or Ionic Compound?

A co-ordinate bond (also called a dative covalent bond) is a covalent bond (a shared pair of electrons) in which both electrons come from the same atom.

Ionic Bonding E.g. magnesium in Group 2 and fluorine in Group 17 combine to form the ionic compound magnesium fluoride (MgF2).

Magnesium Fluoride is an ionic compound. The two electrons are transferred to fluorine atoms to form two fluoride ions, F–. The magnesium fluoride has the formula MgF2. Each unit of magnesium fluoride consists of one magnesium ion and two fluoride ions.