Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

Chemical bonds hold molecules together and create temporary connections that are essential to life. Types of chemical bonds including covalent, ionic, and hydrogen bonds and London dispersion forces.

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  • Anthony James Hoffmeister

    9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Anthony James Hoffmeister's post “In the third paragraph un...”

    In the third paragraph under "Ionic Bonds", it says that there is no such thing as a single NaCl molecule. Why can't you have a single molecule of NaCl?

    (82 votes)

    • Christopher Moppel

      9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Christopher Moppel's post “This is because sodium ch...”

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (4)

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (5)

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (6)

      This is because sodium chloride ionic compounds form a gigantic lattice structure due to the electrostatic attractions between the individual ions. In this case, each sodium ion is surrounded by 4 chloride ions and each chloride ion is surrounded by 4 sodium ions and so on and so on, so that the result is a massive crystal. This particular ratio of Na ions to Cl ions is due to the ratio of electrons interchanged between the 2 atoms.

      (124 votes)

  • Cameron Christensen

    9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Cameron Christensen's post “Regarding London dispersi...”

    Regarding London dispersion forces, shouldn't a "dispersion" force be causing molecules to disperse, not attract?

    (35 votes)

    • Jemarcus772

      6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to Jemarcus772's post “dispersion is the seperat...”

      dispersion is the seperation of electrons

      (4 votes)

  • Felix Hernandez Nohr

    9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Felix Hernandez Nohr's post “What is the typical perio...”

    What is the typical period of time a London dispersion force will last between two molecules?
    To me it seems it last far shorter than a second. If so, has it got time to do anything productive with the molecules? Do this London dispersion forces come in bursts? Electrons rapidly moving back and forth between two atoms in a molecule creating many London dispersion forces so fast it acts like a long-lasting bond between molecules?

    (16 votes)

    • Dhiraj

      9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Dhiraj's post “The London dispersion for...”

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (13)

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (14)

      The London dispersion forces occur so often and for little of a time period so they do make somewhat of a difference. In my biology book they said an example of van der Waals interactions is the ability for a gecko to walk up a wall. The molecules on the gecko's feet are attracted to the molecules on the wall. You could think of it as a balloon that sticks to a wall after you rub if on your head due to the transfer of electrons. The bond is not long-lasting however since it is easy to break.

      (32 votes)

  • Ben Selzer

    9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Ben Selzer's post “If enough energy is appli...”

    If enough energy is applied to mollecular bonds, they break (as demonstrated in the video discussing heat changing liquids to gasses). Usually, do intermolecular or intramolecular bonds break first? Is there ever an instance where both the intermolecular bonds and intramolecular bonds break simultaneously?

    (14 votes)

    • Miguel Angelo Santos Bicudo

      9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Miguel Angelo Santos Bicudo's post “Intermolecular bonds brea...”

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (18)

      Intermolecular bonds break easier, but that does not mean first. Statistically, intermolecular bonds will break more often than covalent or ionic bonds. Yes, they can both break at the same time, it is just a matter of probability. Water, for example is always evaporating, even if not boiling. But, then, why no hydrogen or oxygen is observed as a product of pure water? Because water decomposes into H+ and OH- when the covalent bond breaks. The concentration of each of these ions in pure water, at 25°C, and pressure of 1atm, is 1.0×10e−7mol/L... that is: covalent bonds are breaking all the time (self-ionization), just like intermolecular bonds (evaporation). By the way, that is what makes both pH and pOH of water equal 7.

      Note that even though H+ and OH- are naturally produced in water, they also recombine back into H2O. The speed of bonds breaking and the speed of recombination "fight" one another, until they are in chemical equilibrium, that is when both speeds are the same. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_equilibrium

      For instance, this kind of "fight" also happens with evaporation inside a closed recipient. The equilibrium is reached when the number of molecules escaping from the liquid phase is the same as the number of molecules entering it.

      (17 votes)

  • Tatewisaacs03

    a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Tatewisaacs03's post “what determines a molecul...”

    what determines a molecule's electronegativity?

    • kaspernilsson27

      10 months agoPosted 10 months ago. Direct link to kaspernilsson27's post “The electronegativity of ...”

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (22)

      The electronegativity of an atom depends on its effective nuclear charge (the positive charge experienced by an electron in the atom's outermost shell) and the distance between the outermost shell and the nucleus. Elements with a high effective nuclear charge and a small atomic radius tend to have high electronegativities. Fluorine, which has the highest electronegativity value of 4.0 on the Pauling scale, has a small atomic radius and a high effective nuclear charge.

      (14 votes)

  • nyhalowarrior

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to nyhalowarrior's post “Are hydrogen bonds exclus...”

    Are hydrogen bonds exclusive to hydrogen?

    (9 votes)

    • ja.mori94

      7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to ja.mori94's post “A hydrogen-bond is a spec...”

      Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (26)

      A hydrogen-bond is a specific type of strong intermolecular dipole-dipole interaction between a partially positively-charged hydrogen atom and a partially negatively-charged atom that is highly electronegative, namely N, O, and F, the 3 most electronegative elements in the periodic table.

      (14 votes)

  • Amir

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to Amir's post “In the section about nonp...”

    In the section about nonpolar bonding, the article says carbon-hydrogen bonds are relatively nonpolar, even though the same element is not being bonded to another atom of the same element.

    How is one supposed to know which bonds are nonpolar if the same atom isn't being bonded to the same atom (e.g. O2)

    (4 votes)

    • William H

      8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to William H's post “Look at electronegativiti...”

      Look at electronegativities, and the difference will tell you.

      (4 votes)

  • Saiqa Aftab

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to Saiqa Aftab's post “what are metalic bonding”

    what are metalic bonding

    (3 votes)

    • Chrysella Marlyn

      4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to Chrysella Marlyn's post “Metallic bonding occurs b...”

      Metallic bonding occurs between metal atoms. In this type of bond, the metal atoms each contribute their valence electrons to a big, shared, cloud of electrons. Because the electrons can move freely in the collective cloud, metals are able to have their well-known metallic properties, such as malleability, conductivity, and shininess.

      (4 votes)

  • Lesa S

    a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Lesa S's post “Is it possible for the hy...”

    Is it possible for the hydrogen bonds not give away the electrons but instead gain? Can this happen in real world?

    (3 votes)

    • RiverclanWarrior

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to RiverclanWarrior's post “No, atoms want a full she...”

      No, atoms want a full shell, and they will take the fastest route. If you have one valence electron like hydrogen, it's faster to get rid of it than to gain another one.

      (5 votes)

  • ch.araghunathan

    3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to ch.araghunathan's post “Oils are nonpolar as a mo...”

    Oils are nonpolar as a molecule due to their symmetry, however, there can be polar bonds (bond dipoles) that make it up. In this situation can there be times when the partial positive end of one of the oil molecules attracts the partial negative end of the other oil molecules? Can this give a dipole-dipole force, or can there only be dispersion forces? Thanks.

    (4 votes)

Chemical bonds | Chemistry of life | Biology (article) | Khan Academy (2024)
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