Remember from Core Chemistry GCSE:

Remember from Core Chemistry GCSE:

The atomic number tells us how many electrons an atom has. The electrons are found in energy levels around the nucleus also referred to as shells.
Electrons go into the lowest unfilled energy level (that is, the shell nearest to the nucleus which has space in it). The innermost shell is full when it contains 2 electrons The other shells are full when they contain 8 electrons These rules work up to Calcium (20 electrons) which is as far as you have to know ! e.g. Sodium has atomic number 11, so it has 11 electrons. The first two go in the innermost shell which is then full The next eight go in the second shell which is then full

e e e e e e
Na

The remaining one goes in the third shell.

We can show the electron arrangement for sodium as [2,8,1]

e e

e e e

Make sure you can tell by looking at a Periodic Table whether an element is a metal or a non-metal. Here the metals are white and the non-metals blue, but your Periodic Table in the exam wont be colour coded !
Dont forget that hydrogen is a non-metal (even though it is sometimes shown in Group 1, as here, and sometimes on its own)

We will need to know about three types of chemical bonds: metal and metal
Ag Ag

Metallic bonding

metal to non-metal
Na Cl

Ionic bonding

non-metal atom to non-metal atom

H I

Covalent bonding

Ionic Bonding

Firstly we need to know why and how atoms form ions:

An ion is an atom which has lost or gained electrons. Having a full outer shell of electrons makes an atom more stable, (like a noble gas), so all atoms want to achieve this. Atoms with only a few electrons in their outer shells (e.g. the metals in Groups 1 and 2) become ions by losing these few electrons. The next shell in then becomes the full outer shell. 2+

x x x
Mg

x x x
Mg

x x x

x x x
[2,8,2]

x x

x x

x x x

x x x

because two negatively charged electrons have been lost from the atom

[2,8]2+

Atoms with an almost full outer shell (e.g. the non-metals in Group 7) become ions by gaining the electrons needed to fill their shell. _

x x x x
F

x x x x x

[2,7]

x x x

the additional electron, gained to fill the outer shell

x x
[2,8]-

x x x

because a negatively charged electron has been added to the atom

How the periodic table helps:

For metals, e.g. Groups I and II, or Aluminium in Group III the number of electrons the atom needs to lose is the same as the Group number. The charge on the ion is positive, and the same as the Group number e.g Sodium loses one electron to form Na+ Calcium loses two electrons to form Ca2+ Aluminium loses three electrons to form Al3+ For non-metals e.g. Groups VI or VII, the number of electrons in the outer shell is the same as the group number. A full outer shell is 8 electrons, so count up how many are more need to be gained.

The charge on the ion is negative, and the same as the number of electrons added. e.g. chlorine in group 7 needs 1 electron to form the Cl- ion oxygen in Group 6 needs 2 electrons to form the O2- ion

Ionic bonds: are formed when metal atoms lose their outer shell electrons by
giving them to non-metal atoms. The metal atom becomes a positively charged ion, with a full outer shell The non-metal atom becomes a negatively charged ion, with a full outer shell Positive and negative charges attract each other forming strong ionic bonds. We call this electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions its what keeps the ions held together in the giant structure.

The number of electrons supplied by the metal atoms has to be the same as the number of electrons needed by the non-metal atoms to get a full outer shell. This means sometimes two (or more) metal atoms are needed to supply the electrons for one non-metal atom. This dot-cross diagram shows how two sodium atoms supply the electrons needed to form an oxide ion.

Other times one metal atom supplies all the electrons needed for two (or more) non-metal atoms. This happens in magnesium chloride, for example.

This dot-cross diagram shows how the two outer-shell electrons from a magnesium atom are given one each to two chlorine atoms to make a magnesium ion with a 2+ charge and two chloride ions with charge.

Here are the substances with ionic bonds you need to know. You should be able to draw their dot-cross diagrams from memory.

Note: these dot-cross diagrams show outer shell electrons only. You may be asked to show all the electron shells.
sodium chloride calcium chloride magnesium oxide

Notice how the formula in each case reflects the numbers of ions bonded together Note also how the metal keeps its name in the compound but the non-metals name changes to have an -ide ending.

Indeed we can work out the formula for an ionic compound without drawing a dotcross diagram, just by knowing the charges on the ions:
We can look up the ions on our data sheet. Write each ion using the name of the substance e.g. magnesium bromide

Mg2+

Br-

Then choose how many of each ion you need for the charges to balance:

need one of these

need two of these

Now you can write the formula putting the metal ion first:

MgBr2

Prove to yourself that aluminum oxide is Al2O3 !

Covalent Bonding
Non-metals form bonds to other non-metal atoms by sharing electrons. Neither
atom is willing to give away electrons and both only need a few to complete their outer shells. Each covalent bond consists of a pair of shared electrons, one from each atom. See how this works for a hydrogen molecule (H2) and a water molecule (H2O). Remember that hydrogen needs 2 electrons for a full outer shell and oxygen needs 8 electrons for a full outer shell.

x H

x
O

Notice how, when the electrons are shared, each atom has the full outer shell it needs

Covalent dot-cross diagrams are used so it is clear which atom donated which electrons to the bond. Examples you should know include methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), chlorine (Cl2) and hydrogen chloride (HCl).

Note: these dot-cross diagrams show outer shell electrons only. You may be asked to show all the electron shells.

x C x x

Hx x H x C x H H

CH4

H
Carbon needs 4 electrons to complete its outer shell so it shares the 4 it has, gaining 8 as shared pairs.

xx
x

N x
x

Hx N x H
x

xx

NH3

Notice how not all the electrons in N are involved in the covalent bonds, but nitrogen still has a full outer shell of 8 by sharing 3 of its electrons

Its not always necessary to draw the atoms before and after. Using dot-cross notation makes it clear which atom the electrons came from.

xx H x Cl x x

xx

xx

Cl Cl x

x x

HCl

xx

Cl2

It is possible for atoms which need two or more electrons to complete their outer shells to share two electrons each, forming a double covalent bond. See how that works in oxygen molecules (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

O xx x x O xx

x x O x O x x

O x C x x

O2

CO2

O xC x O x x

The arrangement of bonds in simple molecules like these can sometimes be shown using displayed formulae. A single stick is used to represent the covalent bond, and the element symbol is used to represent the atom. Compare these dot-cross diagrams and displayed formulae:

xH Hx O xx

xx

HFBrONICl
These are the elements that consist of pairs of atoms, covalently bonded. This is necessary because these atoms have incomplete outer-shells, so need to share electrons with another atoms to gain the stability of a full outer shell. In any symbol equation, therefore, these elements are:

hydrogen fluorine bromine

H2 F2 Br2
etc.

e.g.

hydrogen

chlorine

hydrogen chloride

H2

Cl2

2 HCl

Metallic Bonding
The bonding in metals is different to covalent and ionic bonding. The metal atoms all have only a few electrons in their outer shells. There are no atoms to receive these electrons, so they cant give them away in ionic bonds. They cant share to get full outer shells because there arent enough electrons to share. The metal atoms give away their outer shell electrons to become positively charged ions. These ions are arranged in a regular lattice structure. The electrons which have been given away form a sea of delocalised electrons surrounding the metal ions and are free to move throughout the lattice. Electrostatic attraction between the positively charged metal ions and the negatively charged electrons forms the actual bonds that hold the whole lattice together. We dont use dot-cross diagrams to show metallic bonding. The diagram to show structure and bonding in a metal, in this example magnesium, is:

Mg2+

Mg2+

Mg2+

Mg2+

Mg2+

Mg2+ Mg2+ Mg2+ Mg2+

Mg2+

Mg2+

Mg2+

sea of delocalised electrons

metal ions

Bonding can change as a result of reactions

Group 1 metals, such as sodium, react vigorously with Group 7 non-metals such as chlorine, to form salts such as sodium chloride.

e.g.

sodium +

chlorine

sodium chloride

2 Na
metallic bonding has one electron in its outer shell to donate

Cl2
covalent bonding HFBrONICl

2 NaCl
ionic bonding Na+ and Cl- so formula is NaCl formed by transfer of one electron from sodium to chlorine

has seven electrons so needs one electron to complete its outer shell