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The atoms in molecules, crystals, metals and other forms of matter are held together by chemical bonds, which determine the structure and properties of matter. All bonds can be described by quantum theory, but, in practice, simplified rules and other theories allow chemists to predict the strength, directionality, and polarity of bonds. [4]
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element is therefore not a compound.
A double bond between two given atoms consists of one σ and one π bond, and a triple bond is one σ and two π bonds. [8] Covalent bonds are also affected by the electronegativity of the connected atoms which determines the chemical polarity of the bond. Two atoms with equal electronegativity will make nonpolar covalent bonds such as H–H.
For example, a transfer of a single electron between atoms is a useful approximation for bonds that form between atoms with one-electron more than a filled shell, and others that are one-electron short of a full shell, such as occurs in the compound sodium chloride and other chemical ionic salts. Many elements display multiple valences, or ...
Metallic solids are held together by a high density of shared, delocalized electrons, resulting in metallic bonding. Classic examples are metals such as copper and aluminum, but some materials are metals in an electronic sense but have negligible metallic bonding in a mechanical or thermodynamic sense (see intermediate forms).
Molecules are generally held together by covalent bonding. Several non-metallic elements exist only as molecules in the environment either in compounds or as homonuclear molecules, not as free atoms: for example, hydrogen.
Theories of chemical structure were first developed by August Kekulé, Archibald Scott Couper, and Aleksandr Butlerov, among others, from about 1858. [4] These theories were first to state that chemical compounds are not a random cluster of atoms and functional groups, but rather had a definite order defined by the valency of the atoms composing the molecule, giving the molecules a three ...
Instead, aggregation into a whole lattice held together by ionic bonding is the result. For example, common table salt is sodium chloride. When sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) are combined, the sodium atoms each lose an electron, forming cations (Na +), and the chlorine atoms each gain an electron to form anions (Cl −). These ions are then ...