The Chemical Bond: an Orbital Perspective

This site makes use of Jmol. If you are not familiar with Jmol check this introduction.

Introduction

These pages has been developed to help you understand and visualize how bonds form between atoms from atomic orbitals.

There are a number of theories to describe chemical bonding including Valance Bond Theory and Molecular Orbital Theory. In both cases the theory attempts to rationalize the geometry of a molecule based on how the bonds form. In both cases the idea of a chemical bond results from two (or more) atoms "sharing" electrons between them to complete the valance shell octet of the atom (i.e. a covalent bond). The atoms can share electrons when the atomic orbitals interact with each other, overlapping to produce a common orbital shared by both atoms and containing two electrons.

The strength of the interaction between two orbitals depends on:

This orbital overlap can produce two unique types of bonds based on where the electron density of the resulting "bonding orbital" is located:

The reason atoms form bonds is that the molecule is more stable (lower in energy) than the isolated atoms. The "sharing" of electrons in a bond allow both atom to achieve a stable electronic structure, a full shell configuration similar to the noble gases (i.e. the so called "octet rule").

A guide to the site is listed below, and the buttons at the bottom of each page will provide sequential access.

The Wave Nature of Electrons
Sigma (σ) Bonds
Pi (π) Bonds
Electronegativity
Covalent Bonding
Polar Covalent Bonding
Ionic Bonding
Dipole Moments


© 2003 - 2015 R. Spinney