I know it’s pretty basic but I just can’t wrap my hear around any of the explanations in my textbook/google
In: 20
One of the properties of metals is that their outer electrons readily leave. This makes them prone to ionic bonds (with non-metals) or metallic bonds (with other metals). This also excludes covalent bonds because the metals have no inclination to “share” their electrons, they just give them away for free.
covalent bonding does involve metals. lithium and beryllium tend to form covalent bonds than ionic ones. they’re charge to radius ratio is too high for them to let go of their valence electrons so they share electrons.
BeCl2 is an example. this way Be is electron deficient in its orbit because it needs to fill an orbital after covalently bonding so it joins with another such molecule to fullfill it’s orbit to become stable.
Al is also covalent in some sorts. it forms a trihalide and then dimerizes (2 molecules join, as above) to satisfy aluminium’s electron deficiency. it’s tricky with such metals because they tend to form bonds of covalent nature, because of their charge to radius ratio. as you go down, it decreases and so does the covalent character and tendency to form bonds having some amount of this nature.
You can have some covalent bonding with metals. The example I thought of is the “organomercury” category of compounds.
But it all comes down to how the outer electrons are positioned. In metals, the outer electrons are only weakly attracted to their nucleus. In nonmetals, those outer electrons are much more strongly attracted, so it’s much easier to get situations where they’re sharing, rather than just fully ionizing.
I took physics, chemistry, and biology at the same time, so I tended to observe things that nobody ever pointed out.
It seemed to me that the real difference between ionic bonds and covalent bonds was how tightly the nucleus tries to hang on to the electrons. Specifically, is it bound so tightly that the partial charge of a water molecule cannot break it off? Covalent. Can a random collision with the partial-positive end of a water molecule break it off? Ionic.
Metals are metals because they suck at holding onto electrons. But that gives them special properties that are quite useful. So it’s all good.
Latest Answers