Types of Chemical Bonds: Ionic, Covalent, and Metallic
What are the different types of chemical bonds? How do these bonds differ? You have already learned that once two elements combine they will take on new physical and chemical properties. What else occurs during the bonding process? Investigating the three types of chemical bonds will help you to gain an understanding of why substances behave certain ways. View this presentation to learn about the three types of chemical bonds.
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For a fun review on the different types of bonds and their properties, view the video What Kinds of Bonds Are These? from eMediaVA℠. Make sure to note how electronegativity values of the atoms involved impacts the type of bond that forms.
Properties of a Metal
Earlier you investigated that metallic bonds create special properties. What are those special properties that all metals share? Roll your cursor over the images below to learn more about the three characteristics that metals share due to their bonding.
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Carbon - The Basic Building Block of Life
An artist's 3-D depiction
of a DNA strand
You may not realize it, but you have molecular bonds inside of you. At the foundation of these bonds lies carbon, an element that is often called the building block of life. This is because carbon provides the basis for many of the proteins that form human nucleic acids, like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Genes in your body make smaller proteins, which are molecules of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen chains. These proteins come together to form polymers, or large molecules with repetitive subunits in different combinations, of these nucleic acids. Nucleic acids determine everything from the color of your hair to the genetic information for other animals, as well as plants, protists, archaea and bacteria. Carbon is so important to these structures because it has such a great ability to bond to itself and to most other nonmetallic elements. In addition, carbon is an extremely stable element. Often, carbon bonds with hydrogen to form molecules called hydrocarbons.
For more information on why carbon bonding is so important to life on Earth, view the video Ingredients for Life: Carbon from eMediaVA℠. Make sure to take note of why carbon sits "at the center of life's chemistry," and think about why is it one of the most versatile elements.
Types of Chemical Bonds Review
Now that you have explored ionic, covalent, and metallic bonding, review your knowledge of the three types of chemical bonds in this non-graded activity. Read each question and select the appropriate answer. Then, click SUBMIT to check your response. Click the interactivity thumbnail, and then click NEXT to get started.