Covalent Bonding, In-Depth

Covalent Bonding requires the sharing of electrons to fill outermost orbitals. For this to happen, the repulsive and attractive forces of each atom must be in a proportion that allows electrons to move around between both atoms. The space that the shared electrons move in is called a molecular orbital, as a molecule is what is formed when the two atoms bond. After bonding covalently, the atoms are stable, and have a low potential energy. This decrease in energy causes the extra energy to be released. As atoms are moving closer to each other the potential energy of these atoms is decreasing, until the atoms are at a point where the attractive and repulsive forces between the two atoms balance, and the atoms are bonded. At this point the atoms are no longer moving closer together, and do not give off any more energy. When two atoms are bonded covalently, they are at their minimum potential energy (as stated before). The distance between these atoms at their minimum potential energy is called their bond length. Covalent bonds are flexible, the nuclei of the bonded atoms move back and forth. Because of this, bond length is actually the average distance between the two nuclei. In order to break a bond, energy is required. This is called bond energy.