Chemical Bond (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what a chemical bond is and how they are classified. Examples of covalent bonds, ionic bonds and metallic bonds.

What is a chemical bond?

A chemical bond is the force that unites atoms to form chemical compounds. This union gives stability to the resulting compound. The energy required to break a chemical bond is called the bond energy.

In this process atoms give up or share electrons from the valence shell (the outer layer of an atom where its reactivity or its tendency to form bonds is determined), and join together constituting new homogeneous substances (not mixtures), inseparable through physical mechanisms such as filtering or sieving.

It is a fact that the atoms that make up matter tend to join together through various methods that balance or share their natural electrical charges to achieve more stable conditions than when they are separated. chemical bonds constitute the formation of organic and inorganic molecules and, therefore, they are part of the basis of the existence of living organisms. Similarly, chemical bonds can be broken under certain conditions..

This can occur by subjecting chemical compounds to high temperatures, applying electricity, or promoting chemical reactions with other compounds. For example, If we apply electricity to water it is possible to separate the chemical bonds between hydrogen and oxygen that make it up, this process is called electrolysis. Another example is adding large amounts of caloric energy to a protein, which would lead to denaturation (losing the secondary structure of a protein) or breaking its bonds.

Types of chemical bond

There are three types of known chemical bonds, depending on the nature of the atoms involved:

Covalent bond It occurs between non-metallic atoms with similar electromagnetic charges (usually high), which join and share some pairs of electrons in their valence shell. It is the predominant type of bond in organic molecules and can be of three types: single (AA), double (A=A) and triple (A≡A), depending on the number of shared electrons.
Ionic bond It consists of the electrostatic attraction between particles with electrical charges of opposite signs called ions (an electrically charged particle, which can be an atom or molecule that has lost or gained electrons, that is, it is not neutral).
Metal link It occurs only between metal atoms of the same element, which generally constitute solid, extremely compact structures. It is a strong bond, which joins the atomic nuclei to each other, surrounded by their electrons as in a cloud.