For each of the following molecules, determine if it is ionic, polar covalent, or non-polar covalent.

Question

Bond	Bond Type - Ionic, Polar Covalent, or Non-polar Covalent?
H - Cl
H - H
Cl - Cl
C - O
Na - Cl

Answer 1

Hi Skjdb S.,

What you don't need is the answers, what you need is the rules to memorize, so you can always do these problems, Hmm?

The Rules.

If you have a Group 1, 2, or 13 metal and a group 16 or 17 non-metal, you undoubtedly have an ionic compound! In this case, referring to a Na-Cl 'bond' is a little misleading, since there are no "Na-Cl" units in the solid anyway, just a lattice with the various ions.

If other than that you have two elements with different electronegativities, then you have a polar covalent bond. A little different, a little polar; very much different, very polar.

If you have identical atoms, by necessity that's a non-polar covalent bond.

There's also a metallic bond, that's what metals form amongst their atoms. They don't share electrons generally between well-defined localized orbitals, but into non-localized electron clouds defined more by energy range than by position.

You should recognize that these are idealized classifications of bonds; but, they're still very useful when considering physical and chemical properties of materials.

--Cheers, --Mr. d.