1. COVALENT COMPOUNDS
Noadswood Science, 2012

2. Covalent Compounds To understand the properties of covalent compounds
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Covalent Compounds
To understand the properties of covalent compounds

3. Organic
Many covalent substances come from living materials – organic in this sense means anything containing carbon (C)
Organic compounds tend to have covalent bonding…

4. Covalent Bonding
A covalent bond forms when two non-metal atoms share a pair of electrons – the electrons involved are in the highest occupied energy levels (outer shells) of the atoms
An atom that shares one or more of its electrons will complete its highest occupied energy level
Covalent bonds are strong – a lot of energy is needed to break them
Substances with covalent bonds often form molecules with low melting and boiling points, such as hydrogen and water (as they have weak forces of attraction between the molecules)

5. Hydrogen Chloride
After bonding, the chlorine atom is now in contact with eight electrons in its highest energy level causing it to become stable
The hydrogen atom is now in contact with two electrons in its highest energy level resulting in the hydrogen also being stable

6. Bonds
Atoms may form multiple covalent bonds – that is, share not just one pair of electrons but two or more pairs
Atoms of different elements will form either one, two, three or four covalent bonds with other atoms – there is a quick way to work out how many covalent bonds an element will form…
The number of covalent bonds is equal to eight minus the group number
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Example
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Chlorine
Number of bonds
8 – 4 = 4
8 – 5 = 3
8 – 6 = 2
8 – 7 = 1

7. Models Element Formula Chemical Structure Ball & Stick Model Hydrogen
Water
H2O
Ammonia
NH3
Methane
CH4

8. Covalent Compounds Covalent bonds form between non-metal atoms
Each bond consists of a shared pair of electrons and is very strong – covalently bonded substances fall into two main types: -
Simple molecules
Giant covalent structures

9. Simple Molecules H O O O C
These contain only a few atoms held together by strong covalent bonds
An example is carbon dioxide (CO2), the molecules of which contain one atom of carbon bonded with two atoms of oxygen H O O O C
Oxygen
Water
Carbon dioxide

10. Simple Properties
Simple molecular substances have the following properties: -
Low melting and boiling points – this is because the weak intermolecular forces break down easily
Non-conductive – substances with a simple molecular structure do not conduct electricity because they do not have any free electrons or an overall electric charge
Solids are usually soft and brittle, shattering when hit, and insoluble in water (but soluble in other solvents, e.g. petrol)
Simple molecular substances are gases, liquids or solids with low melting and boiling points

11. Intermolecular Forces
Hydrogen, ammonia, methane and water are also simple molecules with covalent bonds
All have very strong bonds between the atoms, but much weaker forces holding the molecules together – when one of these substances melts or boils, it is these weak 'intermolecular forces' that break, not the strong covalent bonds
Atomic bonding

12. Giant Covalent
In some substances, millions of atoms join together by covalent bonding – this produces giant covalent structures, not molecules
All the bonds are covalent, which means that giant covalent structures have a very high melting and boiling point
This also means that almost all giant covalent structure are hard but brittle

13. Graphite (left) and diamond (right) – allotropes of carbon
Giant Covalent
Giant covalent structures contain a lot of non-metal atoms, each joined to adjacent atoms by covalent bonds
The atoms are usually arranged into giant regular lattices – extremely strong structures because of the many bonds involved
Giant covalent structures can vary, for example the molecular structure of carbon can have two allotropes – diamond and graphite (allotropes are structurally different forms of an element)…
Graphite (left) and diamond (right) – allotropes of carbon

14. Giant Covalent Properties
Giant covalent structures have the following properties: -
Very high melting points – substances with giant covalent structures have very high melting points, because a lot of strong covalent bonds must be broken (graphite, for example, has a melting point of more than 3,600ºC)
Variable conductivity – diamond does no conduct electricity whilst graphite contains free electrons so it does conduct electricity and silicon is semi-conductive (midway between non-conductive and conductive
Many are very hard
They are chemically un-reactive

15. Covalent Differences

16. Covalent Compounds Summary
Covalent compounds usually exist as small molecules
Many organic compounds have covalent bonds
Covalent compounds have low melting points and boiling points (very little energy is needed to break the forces of attraction between the molecules (even though the covalent bonds are extremely strong))
Covalent compounds are usually gases and liquids at room temperature O O O C C
Weak forces of attraction
Weak forces of attraction O C O O C
Weak forces of attraction O O