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Differences Between Ionic and Covalent Equations

One of the fundamental facts about the real world slowly pieced together through the efforts of thousands of people over the centuries -- is that there is an invisible world of components too small to see that make up the familiar world we know. Many seemingly magic phenomena such as water freezing, wood burning, magnetism and static electricity can only be explained in terms of this unseen world.

Atoms
- Atoms are composed of a central core called the nucleus that is itself composed of positively charged protons and neutrally charged neurons. In orbits around the nucleus are negatively charged electrons. The nucleus is relatively stable and it is the behavior of the electrons that determines how atoms stick together to make molecules or crystals. Electrons can be pulled away by other atoms, or pushed away by different forms of energy such as light, magnetism, electricity or heat.
Molecules and Crystals
- Atoms often bond to other atoms to make larger structures. This bonding can be relatively permanent as the bonds hold together solid objects -- most of the things we see in the world. A weaker bonding is involved in liquids, which stay together as long as a substance is confined, but quickly falls apart due to the effect of gravity or heat. A lot of effects are created by the fact the electrons arrange in shells. If the outer shell is complete, the atom tends not to bind with other atoms. If there are one or two electrons past the last complete shell, these electrons are easy to lose. If the shell is almost complete, the atom seems eager to combine with other atoms.
Covalent Bonds
- If the outer shell of one atom is almost complete and the outer shell of another atom has only one electron, the atoms can share the electron or electrons in a way that make it seem like the outer shell of both electrons are complete. This outer shell is called the valence shell, so this type of sharing is called a covalent bond. Sharing electrons holds the atoms together. They can be separated, but it takes a lot of energy.
Ionic Bonds
- If the electronegativity -- how strongly an atom attracts or retains electrons -- of one atom is much stronger than another atom, the atoms do not share electrons, one atom takes an electron away from the other to make the shells complete. This means one atom has more electrons than protons and the other atom has fewer electrons than protons. This makes one atom positive and the other negative. The atoms are attracted to each other, but the strength of the attraction is less than with covalent bonding. This is ionic bonding and it is characteristic of crystals.

Nature