Electronegativity and Bonds
Part of the Structure and Bonding section of Coddy's Chemistry journey. Lesson 22 of 49.
Electronegativity: how strongly an atom in a bond pulls the shared electrons. Fluorine is the highest, 3.98.
It grows across a period and up a group: the top right of the table (F, O, N, Cl) pulls the most; metals pull the least.
The atom that pulls more gets a small negative charge, δ−; the other gets δ+.
Chlorine pulls the shared pair toward itself in HCl; two chlorine atoms pull equally
Challenge
Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide both hold carbon bonded to oxygen. In a carbon-oxygen bond, which atom takes the negative end?
Try it yourself
Test yourselfThis lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.
All lessons in Structure and Bonding
1Ionic Bonding
Why Atoms BondForming IonsThe Ionic BondIonic FormulasPolyatomic IonsIonic LatticesRecap - Salt Factory4Polarity
Electronegativity and BondsPolar and Non-polar BondsIonic or CovalentPolar MoleculesWhen Dipoles CancelRecap - Dipole Hunt2Covalent Bonds
Sharing ElectronsCounting Valence ElectronsDrawing Lewis StructuresDouble and Triple BondsLone PairsFormal ChargeLewis Structures of IonsRecap - Molecule Builder