BRAINCAKEElectronegativity
Electronegativity is the attraction of a bonded atom for the pair of electrons in a covalent bond.
One of the bonded atoms may have a greater attraction for the shared pair of electrons than the other. The result is that the shared pair of electrons is not shared evenly and the electron cloud is distorted the bond becomes polar.
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Key terms in this lesson
- Covalent bond
- A strong electrostatic attraction between a shared pair of electrons and the nuclei of the bonded atoms.
- Group
- A vertical column of the periodic table, containing elements with the same number of outer-shell electrons.
- Period
- A horizontal row of the periodic table, containing elements with the same number of electron shells.
- Atomic radius
- A measure of the size of an atom, found by measuring the distance between two adjacent nuclei and dividing by two.
More in Shapes and Intermolecular Forces
- Three and Four Electron Pairs
- BF3 and SF6 and PCl5
- Polyatomic ions.
- More examples.
- Bond Polarity
- Polar Solvents and Solubility
- Induced Dipole-Dipole Interactions (London Forces)
- Permanent dipole-dipole interactions
All 13 lessons in Shapes and Intermolecular Forces · All OCR AS-level Chemistry topics