Chemical formulas only tell us how many atoms of each element are present in a molecule, but structural formulas also give information about how the atoms are connected in space.
In structural formulas, we actually draw the covalent bonds connecting atoms. In the last section, we looked at the chemical formula for ammonia, which is NH . Now, let’s consider its structural formula
This is a diagrammatical way to represent NH3 , 1 Nitrogen and 3 Hydrogen atoms leads to a diagram like this , as you can see in the Nitrogen has a covalent bond to the 3 hydrogen atoms
Ions and ion formation
Now that we have an understanding of covalent bonds, we can begin to discuss the other major type of chemical bond—an ionic bond.
Covalent bonds, in which electron pairs are shared between atoms
An ionic bond is formed when two oppositely charged ions attract one another
Ionic bonds
We looked separately at how sodium can lose an electron to form the cation Na and at how chlorine can gain an electron to form the anion Cl . In reality, however, this process can occur all in one step when sodium gives its electron away to chlorine! We can illustrate this as follows:
We can see how an electron is transferred from sodium to chlorine in order to form the ions Na and Cl . Once these ions are formed, there is a strong electrostatic attraction between them, which leads to the formation of an ionic bond.
We can see that one of the major distinguishing factors between ionic bonds and covalent bonds is that in ionic bonds, electrons are completely transferred, whereas in covalent bonds, electrons are shared.