IONIC (ELECTROVALENT) BONDING

This page explains what ionic (electrovalent) bonding is. It starts with a simple picture of the formation of ions, and then modifies it slightly for A'level purposes.

A simple view of ionic bonding The importance of noble gas structures At a simple level (like GCSE) a lot of importance is attached to the electronic structures of noble gases like neon or argon which have eight electrons in their outer energy levels (or two in the case of helium). These noble gas structures are thought of as being in some way a "desirable" thing for an atom to have. You may well have been left with the strong impression that when other atoms react, they try to organise things such that their outer levels are either completely full or completely empty.

Note: The central role given to noble gas structures is very much an over-simplification. We shall have to spend some time later on demolishing the concept!

Ionic bonding in sodium chloride Sodium (2,8,1) has 1 electron more than a stable noble gas structure (2,8). If it gave away that electron it would become more stable. Chlorine (2,8,7) has 1 electron short of a stable noble gas structure (2,8,8). If it could gain an electron from somewhere it too would become more stable. The answer is obvious. If a sodium atom gives an electron to a chlorine atom, both become more stable.

The sodium has lost an electron, so it no longer has equal numbers of electrons and protons. Because it has one more proton than electron, it has a charge of 1+. If electrons are lost from an atom, positive ions are formed. Positive ions are sometimes called cations. The chlorine has gained an electron, so it now has one more electron than proton. It therefore has a charge of 1-. If electrons are gained by an atom, negative ions are formed. A negative ion is sometimes called an anion. The nature of the bond The sodium ions and chloride ions are held together by the strong electrostatic attractions between the positive and negative charges. The formula of sodium chloride You need one sodium atom to provide the extra electron for one

chlorine atom, so they combine together 1:1. The formula is therefore NaCl.

Some other examples of ionic bonding magnesium oxide

Again, noble gas structures are formed, and the magnesium oxide is held together by very strong attractions between the ions. The ionic bonding is stronger than in sodium chloride because this time you have 2+ ions attracting 2- ions. The greater the charge, the greater the attraction. The formula of magnesium oxide is MgO. calcium chloride

This time you need two chlorines to use up the two outer electrons in the calcium. The formula of calcium chloride is therefore CaCl2. potassium oxide

Again, noble gas structures are formed. It takes two potassiums to supply the electrons the oxygen needs. The formula of

potassium oxide is K2O.

THE A'LEVEL VIEW OF IONIC BONDING

Electrons are transferred from one atom to another resulting in the formation of positive and negative ions. The electrostatic attractions between the positive and negative ions hold the compound together.

So what's new? At heart - nothing. What needs modifying is the view that there is something magic about noble gas structures. There are far more ions which don't have noble gas structures than there are which do. Some common ions which don't have noble gas structures You may have come across some of the following ions in a basic course like GCSE. They are all perfectly stable , but not one of them has a noble gas structure. Fe3+ Cu2+ Zn2+ Ag+ Pb2+ [Ar]3d5 [Ar]3d9 [Ar]3d10 [Kr]4d10 [Xe]4f145d106s2

Noble gases (apart from helium) have an outer electronic structure ns2np6.
Note: If you aren't happy about writing electronic structures using of s, p and d notation, follow this link before you go on. Return to this page via the menus or by using the BACK button on your browser.

Apart from some elements at the beginning of a transition series (scandium forming Sc3+ with an argon structure, for example), all transition elements and any metals following a transition series (like tin and lead in Group 4, for example) will have structures

like those above. That means that the only elements to form positive ions with noble gas structures (apart from odd ones like scandium) are those in groups 1 and 2 of the Periodic Table and aluminium in group 3 (boron in group 3 doesn't form ions). Negative ions are tidier! Those elements in Groups 5, 6 and 7 which form simple negative ions all have noble gas structures. If elements aren't aiming for noble gas structures when they form ions, what decides how many electrons are transferred? The answer lies in the energetics of the process by which the compound is made.
Warning! From here to the bottom of this page goes beyond anything you are likely to need for A'level purposes. You should read it, but you almost certainly won't be tested on it for the purposes of UK A level (or its equivalents). Check your syllabus if you aren't sure.

Questions to test your understanding If this is the first set of questions you have done, please read the introductory page before you start. You will need to use the BACK BUTTON on your browser to come back here afterwards. questions on ionic bonding answers There are no questions to test the rest of this page.

What determines what the charge is on an ion? Elements combine to make the compound which is as stable as possible - the one in which the greatest amount of energy is evolved in its making. The more charges a positive ion has, the greater the attraction towards its accompanying negative ion. The greater the attraction, the more energy is released when the ions come together. That means that elements forming positive ions will tend to give

away as many electrons as possible. But there's a down-side to this. Energy is needed to remove electrons from atoms. This is called ionisation energy. The more electrons you remove, the greater the total ionisation energy becomes. Eventually the total ionisation energy needed becomes so great that the energy released when the attractions are set up between positive and negative ions isn't large enough to cover it. The element forms the ion which makes the compound most stable - the one in which most energy is released over-all. For example, why is calcium chloride CaCl2 rather than CaCl or CaCl3? If one mole of CaCl (containing Ca+ ions) is made from its elements, it is possible to estimate that about 171 kJ of heat is evolved. However, making CaCl2 (containing Ca2+ ions) releases more heat. You get 795 kJ. That extra amount of heat evolved makes the compound more stable, which is why you get CaCl2 rather than CaCl. What about CaCl3 (containing Ca3+ ions)? To make one mole of this, you can estimate that you would have to put in 1341 kJ. This makes this compound completely non-viable. Why is so much heat needed to make CaCl3? It is because the third ionisation energy (the energy needed to remove the third electron) is extremely high (4940 kJ mol-1) because the electron is being removed from the 3-level rather than the 4-level. Because it is much closer to the nucleus than the first two electrons removed, it is going to be held much more strongly.
Note: It would pay you to read about ionisation energies if you really want to understand this. You could also go to a standard text book and investigate Born-Haber Cycles.

A similar sort of argument applies to the negative ion. For example, oxygen forms an O2- ion rather than an O- ion or an O3-

ion, because compounds containing the O2- ion turn out to be the most energetically stable.

IONIC STRUCTURES

This page explains the relationship between the arrangement of the ions in a typical ionic solid like sodium chloride and its physical properties - melting point, boiling point, brittleness, solubility and electrical behaviour. It also explains why caesium chloride has a different structure from sodium chloride even though sodium and caesium are both in Group 1 of the Periodic Table.
Note: If you need to revise how ionic bonding arises, then you might like to follow this link. It isn't important for understanding this page, however.

The structure of a typical ionic solid - sodium chloride

How the ions are arranged in sodium chloride Sodium chloride is taken as a typical ionic compound. Compounds like this consist of a giant (endlessly repeating) lattice of ions. So sodium chloride (and any other ionic compound) is described as having a giant ionic structure. You should be clear that giant in this context doesn't just mean very large. It means that you can't state exactly how many ions there are. There could be billions of sodium ions and chloride ions packed together, or trillions, or whatever - it simply depends how big the crystal is. That is different from, say, a water molecule which always contains exactly 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom - never more and never less. A small representative bit of a sodium chloride lattice looks like

this:

If you look at the diagram carefully, you will see that the sodium ions and chloride ions alternate with each other in each of the three dimensions. This diagram is easy enough to draw with a computer, but extremely difficult to draw convincingly by hand. We normally draw an "exploded" version which looks like this:

Only those ions joined by lines are actually touching each other. The sodium ion in the centre is being touched by 6 chloride ions. By chance we might just as well have centred the diagram around a chloride ion - that, of course, would be touched by 6 sodium ions. Sodium chloride is described as being 6:6-coordinated. You must remember that this diagram represents only a tiny part of the whole sodium chloride crystal. The pattern repeats in this way over countless ions.

How to draw this structure Draw a perfect square:

Now draw an identical square behind this one and offset a bit. You might have to practice a bit to get the placement of the two squares right. If you get it wrong, the ions get all tangled up with each other in your final diagram.

Turn this into a perfect cube by joining the squares together:

Now the tricky bit! Subdivide this big cube into 8 small cubes by joining the mid point of each edge to the mid point of the edge opposite it. To complete the process you will also have to join the mid point of each face (easily found once you've joined the edges) to the mid point of the opposite face.

Now all you have to do is put the ions in. Use different colours or different sizes for the two different ions, and don't forget a key. It doesn't matter whether you end up with a sodium ion or a chloride ion in the centre of the cube - all that matters is that they alternate in all three dimensions.

You should be able to draw a perfectly adequate free-hand sketch of this in under two minutes - less than one minute if you're not too fussy!

Why is sodium chloride 6:6-co-ordinated? The more attraction there is between the positive and negative ions, the more energy is released. The more energy that is released, the more energetically stable the structure becomes. That means that to gain maximum stability, you need the maximum number of attractions. So why does each ion surround itself with 6 ions of the opposite charge? That represents the maximum number of chloride ions that you can fit around a central sodium ion before the chloride ions start touching each other. If they start touching, you introduce repulsions into the crystal which makes it less stable.

The different structure of caesium chloride

We'll look first at the arrangement of the ions and then talk about why the structures of sodium chloride and caesium chloride are different afterwards.
Warning: Before you go on with this section, make sure that you actually need it for your syllabus. If you don't, jump down the page to "The physical properties of sodium chloride"

How the ions are arranged in caesium chloride Imagine a layer of chloride ions as shown below. The individual chloride ions aren't touching each other. That's really important -

if they were touching, there would be repulsion.

Now let's place a similarly arranged layer of caesium ions on top of these.

Notice that the caesium ions aren't touching each other either, but that each caesium ion is resting on four chloride ions from the layer below. Now let's put another layer of chloride ions on, exactly the same as the first layer. Again, the chloride ions in this layer are NOT touching those in the bottom layer - otherwise you are introducing repulsion. Since we are looking directly down on the structure, you can't see the bottom layer of chloride ions any more, of course.

If you now think about a caesium ion sandwiched between the two layers of chloride ions, it is touching four chloride ions in the bottom layer, and another four in the top one. Each caesium ion is touched by eight chloride ions. We say that it is 8-coordinated. If we added another layer of caesium ions, you could similarly work out that each chloride ion was touching eight caesium ions. The chloride ions are also 8-co-ordinated. Overall, then, caesium chloride is 8:8-co-ordinated.

The final diagram in this sequence takes a slightly tilted view of the structure so that you can see how the layers build up. These diagrams are quite difficult to draw without it looking as if ions of the same charge are touching each other. They aren't!

Diagrams of ionic crystals are usually simplified to show the most basic unit of the repeating pattern. For caesium chloride, you could, for example, draw a simple diagram showing the

arrangement of the chloride ions around each caesium ion:

By reversing the colours (green chloride ion in the centre, and orange caesium ions surrounding it), you would have an exactly equivalent diagram for the arrangement of caesium ions around each chloride ion.
Note: These diagrams are difficult enough to draw convincingly on a computer. Trying to draw them freehand in an exam is seriously difficult. If you are doing a syllabus which wants you to know about the structure of caesium chloride, take a careful look at past exam papers and mark schemes to see exactly what sort of diagrams (if any) you need to use, and then practise them so that you can draw them quickly and well. If you haven't got any past papers and mark schemes, follow this link to the syllabuses page to find out how to get them if you are doing a UK-based exam.

Why are the caesium chloride and sodium chloride structures different? When attractions are set up between two ions of opposite charges, energy is released. The more energy that can be released, the more stable the system becomes. That means that the more contact there is between negative and positive ions, the more stable the crystal should become. If you can surround a positive ion like caesium with eight chloride ions rather than just six (and vice versa for the chloride ions), then you should have a more stable crystal. So why doesn't sodium chloride do the same thing? Look again at the last diagram:

Now imagine what would happen if you replaced the caesium ion with the smaller sodium ion. Sodium ions are, of course, smaller than caesium ions because they have fewer layers of electrons around them. You still have to keep the chloride ions in contact with the sodium. The effect of this would be that the whole arrangement would shrink, bringing the chloride ions into contact with each other - and that introduces repulsion. Any gain in attractions because you have eight chlorides around the sodium rather than six is more than countered by the new repulsions between the chloride ions themselves. When sodium chloride is 6:6-co-ordinated, there are no such repulsions - and so that is the best way for it to organise itself. Which structure a simple 1:1 compound like NaCl or CsCl crystallises in depends on the radius ratio of the positive and the negative ions. If the radius of the positive ion is bigger than 73% of that of the negative ion, then 8:8-co-ordination is possible. Less than that (down to 41%) then you get 6:6-coordination. In CsCl, the caesium ion is about 93% of the size of the chloride ion - so is easily within the range where 8:8-co-ordination is possible. But with NaCl, the sodium ion is only about 52% of the size of the chloride ion. That puts it in the range where you get 6:6-co-ordination.
Note: What happens below 41%? At this point the negative ions will touch each other again even with 6:6-co-ordination. A new arrangement (known as 4:4-co-ordination) then becomes necessary. This is beyond any syllabus that I am currently tracking.

The physical properties of sodium chloride

Sodium chloride is taken as typical of ionic compounds, and is chosen rather than, say, caesium chloride, because it is found on every syllabus at this level. Sodium chloride has a high melting and boiling point There are strong electrostatic attractions between the positive and negative ions, and it takes a lot of heat energy to overcome them. Ionic substances all have high melting and boiling points. Differences between ionic substances will depend on things like:

The number of charges on the ions Magnesium oxide has exactly the same structure as sodium chloride, but a much higher melting and boiling point. The 2+ and 2- ions attract each other more strongly than 1+ attracts 1-.

The sizes of the ions If the ions are smaller they get closer together and so the electrostatic attractions are greater. Rubidium iodide, for example, melts and boils at slightly lower temperatures than sodium chloride, because both rubidium and iodide ions are bigger than sodium and chloride ions. The attractions are less between the bigger ions and so less heat energy is needed to separate them.

Sodium chloride crystals are brittle Brittleness is again typical of ionic substances. Imagine what happens to the crystal if a stress is applied which shifts the ion layers slightly.

Ions of the same charge are brought side-by-side and so the

crystal repels itself to pieces!

Sodium chloride is soluble in water Many ionic solids are soluble in water - although not all. It depends on whether there are big enough attractions between the water molecules and the ions to overcome the attractions between the ions themselves. Positive ions are attracted to the lone pairs on water molecules and co-ordinate (dative covalent) bonds may form. Water molecules form hydrogen bonds with negative ions.
Note: The bonding in hydrated metal ions is covered in the page on co-ordinate bonding. The bonding between negative ions like chloride ions and water molecules is covered in the page on hydrogen bonding.

Sodium chloride is insoluble in organic solvents This is also typical of ionic solids. The attractions between the solvent molecules and the ions aren't big enough to overcome the attractions holding the crystal together.

The electrical behaviour of sodium chloride Solid sodium chloride doesn't conduct electricity, because there are no electrons which are free to move. When it melts, sodium chloride undergoes electrolysis, which involves conduction of electricity because of the movement and discharge of the ions. In the process, sodium and chlorine are produced. This is a chemical change rather than a physical process. The positive sodium ions move towards the negatively charged electrode (the cathode). When they get there, each sodium ion picks up an electron from the electrode to form a sodium atom. These float to the top of the melt as molten sodium metal. (And assuming you are doing this open to the air, this immediately

catches fire and burns with an orange flame.)

The movement of electrons from the cathode onto the sodium ions leaves spaces on the cathode. The power source (the battery or whatever) moves electrons along the wire in the external circuit to fill those spaces. That flow of electrons would be seen as an electric current. (The external circuit is all the rest of the circuit apart from the molten sodium chloride.) Meanwhile, chloride ions are attracted to the positive electrode (the anode). When they get there, each chloride ion loses an electron to the anode to form an atom. These then pair up to make chlorine molecules. Chlrine gas is produced. Overall, the change is . . .

The new electrons deposited on the anode are pumped off around the external circuit by the power source, eventually ending up on the cathode where they will be transferred to sodium ions. Molten sodium chloride conducts electricity because of the movement of the ions in the melt, and the discharge of the ions at the electrodes. Both of these have to happen if you are to get electrons flowing in the external circuit. In solid sodium chloride, of course, that ion movement can't happen and that stops any possibility of any current flow in the circuit.

COVALENT BONDING - SINGLE BONDS

This page explains what covalent bonding is. It starts with a simple picture of the single covalent bond, and then modifies it slightly for A'level purposes.

It also goes on to a more sophisticated view involving hybridisation. This isn't required by many UK-based syllabuses at this level. However, if you can follow it, it will make the bonding in organic compounds easier to understand. I shall make use of it throughout the rest of Chemguide. You will find a link to a page on double covalent bonds at the bottom of the page.

A simple view of covalent bonding

The importance of noble gas structures At a simple level (like GCSE) a lot of importance is attached to the electronic structures of noble gases like neon or argon which have eight electrons in their outer energy levels (or two in the case of helium). These noble gas structures are thought of as being in some way a "desirable" thing for an atom to have. You may well have been left with the strong impression that when other atoms react, they try to achieve noble gas structures. As well as achieving noble gas structures by transferring electrons from one atom to another as in ionic bonding, it is also possible for atoms to reach these stable structures by sharing electrons to give covalent bonds. Some very simple covalent molecules Chlorine For example, two chlorine atoms could both achieve stable structures by sharing their single unpaired electron as in the diagram.

The fact that one chlorine has been drawn with electrons marked as crosses and the other as dots is simply to show where all the

electrons come from. In reality there is no difference between them. The two chlorine atoms are said to be joined by a covalent bond. The reason that the two chlorine atoms stick together is that the shared pair of electrons is attracted to the nucleus of both chlorine atoms. Hydrogen

Hydrogen atoms only need two electrons in their outer level to reach the noble gas structure of helium. Once again, the covalent bond holds the two atoms together because the pair of electrons is attracted to both nuclei. Hydrogen chloride

The hydrogen has a helium structure, and the chlorine an argon structure.

Covalent bonding at A'level

Cases where there isn't any difference from the simple view If you stick closely to modern A'level syllabuses, there is little need to move far from the simple (GCSE) view. The only thing which must be changed is the over-reliance on the concept of noble gas structures. Most of the simple molecules you draw do in fact have all their atoms with noble gas structures. For example:

Even with a more complicated molecule like PCl3, there's no problem. In this case, only the outer electrons are shown for simplicity. Each atom in this structure has inner layers of electrons of 2,8. Again, everything present has a noble gas structure.

Cases where the simple view throws up problems Boron trifluoride, BF3

A boron atom only has 3 electrons in its outer level, and there is no possibility of it reaching a noble gas structure by simple sharing of electrons. Is this a problem? No. The boron has formed the maximum number of bonds that it can in the circumstances, and this is a perfectly valid structure. Energy is released whenever a covalent bond is formed. Because energy is being lost from the system, it becomes more stable after every covalent bond is made. It follows, therefore, that an atom will tend to make as many covalent bonds as possible. In the case of boron in BF3, three bonds is the maximum possible because boron only has 3 electrons to share.

Note: You might perhaps wonder why boron doesn't form ionic bonds with fluorine instead. Boron doesn't form ions because the total energy needed to 3+ remove three electrons to form a B ion is simply too great to be recoverable when attractions are set up between the boron and fluoride ions.

Phosphorus(V) chloride, PCl5 In the case of phosphorus, 5 covalent bonds are possible - as in PCl5. Phosphorus forms two chlorides - PCl3 and PCl5. When phosphorus burns in chlorine both are formed - the majority product depending on how much chlorine is available. We've already looked at the structure of PCl3. The diagram of PCl5 (like the previous diagram of PCl3) shows only the outer electrons.

Notice that the phosphorus now has 5 pairs of electrons in the outer level - certainly not a noble gas structure. You would have been content to draw PCl3 at GCSE, but PCl5 would have looked very worrying. Why does phosphorus sometimes break away from a noble gas structure and form five bonds? In order to answer that question, we need to explore territory beyond the limits of most current A'level syllabuses. Don't be put off by this! It isn't particularly difficult, and is extremely useful if you are going to understand the bonding in some important organic compounds.

A more sophisticated view of covalent bonding

The bonding in methane, CH4

Warning! If you aren't happy with describing electron arrangements in s and p notation, and with the shapes of s and p orbitals, you need to read about orbitals before you go on. Use the BACK button on your browser to return quickly to this point.

What is wrong with the dots-and-crosses picture of bonding in methane? We are starting with methane because it is the simplest case which illustrates the sort of processes involved. You will remember that the dots-and-crossed picture of methane looks like this.

There is a serious mis-match between this structure and the modern electronic structure of carbon, 1s22s22px12py1. The modern structure shows that there are only 2 unpaired electrons to share with hydrogens, instead of the 4 which the simple view requires. You can see this more readily using the electrons-in-boxes notation. Only the 2-level electrons are shown. The 1s2 electrons are too deep inside the atom to be involved in bonding. The only electrons directly available for sharing are the 2p electrons. Why then isn't methane CH2? Promotion of an electron When bonds are formed, energy is released and the system becomes more stable. If carbon forms 4 bonds rather than 2, twice as much energy is released and so the

resulting molecule becomes even more stable. There is only a small energy gap between the 2s and 2p orbitals, and so it pays the carbon to provide a small amount of energy to promote an electron from the 2s to the empty 2p to give 4 unpaired electrons. The extra energy released when the bonds form more than compensates for the initial input.

The carbon atom is now said to be in an excited state.

Note: People sometimes worry that the promoted electron is drawn as an uparrow, whereas it started as a down-arrow. The reason for this is actually fairly complicated - well beyond the level we are working at. Just get in the habit of writing it like this because it makes the diagrams look tidy!

Now that we've got 4 unpaired electrons ready for bonding, another problem arises. In methane all the carbon-hydrogen bonds are identical, but our electrons are in two different kinds of orbitals. You aren't going to get four identical bonds unless you start from four identical orbitals. Hybridisation The electrons rearrange themselves again in a process called hybridisation. This reorganises the electrons into four identical hybrid orbitals called sp3 hybrids (because they are made from one s orbital and three p orbitals). You should read "sp3" as "s p three" - not as "s p cubed".

sp3 hybrid orbitals look a bit like half a p orbital, and they arrange themselves in space so that they are as far apart as possible. You can picture the nucleus as being at the centre of a tetrahedron (a triangularly based pyramid) with the orbitals pointing to the corners. For clarity, the nucleus is drawn far larger than it really is.

What happens when the bonds are formed? Remember that hydrogen's electron is in a 1s orbital - a spherically symmetric region of space surrounding the nucleus where there is some fixed chance (say 95%) of finding the electron. When a covalent bond is formed, the atomic orbitals (the orbitals in the individual atoms) merge to produce a new molecular orbital which contains the electron pair which creates the bond.

Four molecular orbitals are formed, looking rather like the original sp3 hybrids, but with a hydrogen nucleus embedded in each lobe. Each orbital holds the 2 electrons that we've previously drawn as a dot and a cross. The principles involved - promotion of electrons if necessary, then hybridisation, followed by the formation of molecular orbitals - can be applied to any covalently-bound molecule.
Note: You will find this bit on methane repeated in the organic section of this site. That article on methane goes on to look at the formation of carboncarbon single bonds in ethane.

The bonding in the phosphorus chlorides, PCl3 and PCl5 What's wrong with the simple view of PCl3?

This diagram only shows the outer (bonding) electrons.

Nothing is wrong with this! (Although it doesn't account for the shape of the molecule properly.) If you were going to take a more modern look at it, the argument would go like this: Phosphorus has the electronic structure 1s22s22p63s23px13py13pz1. If we look only at the outer electrons as "electrons-in-boxes":

There are 3 unpaired electrons that can be used to form bonds with 3 chlorine atoms. The four 3-level orbitals hybridise to produce 4 equivalent sp3 hybrids just like in carbon - except that one of these hybrid orbitals contains a lone pair of electrons.

Each of the 3 chlorines then forms a covalent bond by merging the atomic orbital containing its unpaired electron with one of the phosphorus's unpaired electrons to make 3 molecular orbitals. You might wonder whether all this is worth the bother! Probably not! It is worth it with PCl5, though. What's wrong with the simple view of PCl5? You will remember that the dots-and-crosses picture of PCl5 looks awkward because the phosphorus doesn't end up with a noble gas

structure. This diagram also shows only the outer electrons.

In this case, a more modern view makes things look better by abandoning any pretence of worrying about noble gas structures. If the phosphorus is going to form PCl5 it has first to generate 5 unpaired electrons. It does this by promoting one of the electrons in the 3s orbital to the next available higher energy orbital. Which higher energy orbital? It uses one of the 3d orbitals. You might have expected it to use the 4s orbital because this is the orbital that fills before the 3d when atoms are being built from scratch. Not so! Apart from when you are building the atoms in the first place, the 3d always counts as the lower energy orbital.

This leaves the phosphorus with this arrangement of its electrons:

The 3-level electrons now rearrange (hybridise) themselves to give 5 hybrid orbitals, all of equal energy. They would be called sp 3d hybrids because that's what they are made from.

The electrons in each of these orbitals would then share space with electrons from five chlorines to make five new molecular orbitals and hence five covalent bonds. Why does phosphorus form these extra two bonds? It puts in an amount of energy to promote an electron, which is more than paid back when the new bonds form. Put simply, it is energetically profitable for the phosphorus to form the extra bonds. The advantage of thinking of it in this way is that it completely ignores the question of whether you've got a noble gas structure, and so you don't worry about it.

A non-existent compound - NCl5 Nitrogen is in the same Group of the Periodic Table as phosphorus, and you might expect it to form a similar range of compounds. In fact, it doesn't. For example, the compound NCl3 exists, but there is no such thing as NCl5. Nitrogen is 1s22s22px12py12pz1. The reason that NCl5 doesn't exist is that in order to form five bonds, the nitrogen would have to promote one of its 2s electrons. The problem is that there aren't any 2d orbitals to promote an electron into - and the energy gap to the next level (the 3s) is far too great. In this case, then, the energy released when the extra bonds are made isn't enough to compensate for the energy needed to promote an electron - and so that promotion doesn't happen. Atoms will form as many bonds as possible provided it is energetically profitable.
COVALENT BONDING - DOUBLE BONDS This page explains how double covalent bonds arise. It starts with a simple picture of double covalent bonding, and then takes a more sophisticated view of the bonding in ethene. Warning! This page assumes that you have already read the page on

single covalent bonds. If you have come straight to this page via a search engine follow this link before you go on.

A simple view of double covalent bonds

A double covalent bond is where two pairs of electrons are shared between the atoms rather than just one pair. Some simple molecules containing double bonds Oxygen, O2 Two oxygen atoms can both achieve stable structures by sharing two pairs of electrons as in the diagram.

The double bond is shown conventionally by two lines joining the atoms. Each line represents one pair of shared electrons. Carbon dioxide, CO2

Ethene, C2H4 Ethene has a double bond between the two carbon atoms.

A more sophisticated view of the bonding in ethene

It is important to explore the bonding in ethene in more detail because it has a direct impact on its chemistry. Unless you have some understanding of the true nature of the double bond, you can't really understand the way that ethene behaves. An orbital view of the bonding in ethene Ethene is built from hydrogen atoms (1s1) and carbon atoms (1s22s22px12py1). Promotion of an electron The carbon atom doesn't have enough unpaired electrons to form the required number of bonds, so it needs to promote one of the 2s 2 pair into the empty 2pz orbital. This is exactly the same as happens whenever carbon forms bonds - whatever else it ends up joined to. The carbon atom is now in an excited state.

Hybridisation In the case of ethene, there is a difference from methane because each carbon is only joining to three other atoms rather than four. When the carbon atoms hybridise their outer orbitals before forming bonds, this time they only hybridise three of the orbitals rather than all four. They use the 2s electron and two of the 2p electrons, but leave the other 2p electron unchanged.

Note: You might wonder why it chooses to hybridise these three orbitals

rather than just use the three p orbitals which already have the same energy. It's because it uses the orbitals with the lowest energy first.

The new orbitals formed are called sp2 hybrids, because they are made by an s orbital and two p orbitals reorganising themselves. sp2 orbitals look rather like sp3 orbitals that we discussed in the bonding in methane in the page on single bonds, except that they are shorter and fatter. The three sp2 hybrid orbitals arrange themselves as far apart as possible - which is at 120 to each other in a plane. The remaining p orbital is at right angles to them. The two carbon atoms and four hydrogen atoms would look like this before they joined together:

The various atomic orbitals which are pointing towards each other now merge to give molecular orbitals, each containing a bonding pair of electrons. Molecular orbitals made by end-to-end overlap of atomic orbitals are called sigma bonds.

The p orbitals on each carbon aren't pointing towards each other, and so we'll leave those for a moment. In the diagram, the black dots represent the nuclei of the atoms. Notice that the p orbitals are so close that they are overlapping sideways. This sideways overlap also creates a molecular orbital, but of a different kind. In this one the electrons aren't held on the line

between the two nuclei, but above and below the plane of the molecule. A bond formed in this way is called a pi bond.

For clarity, the sigma bonds are shown using lines - each line representing one pair of shared electrons. The various sorts of line show the directions the bonds point in. An ordinary line represents a bond in the plane of the screen (or the paper if you've printed it), a broken line is a bond going back away from you, and a wedge shows a bond coming out towards you.
Note: The really interesting bond in ethene is the pi bond. In almost all cases where you will draw the structure of ethene, the sigma bonds will be shown as lines.

Be clear about what a pi bond is. It is a region of space in which you can find the two electrons which make up the bond. Those two electrons can live anywhere within that space. It would be quite misleading to think of one living in the top and the other in the bottom.
Taking chemistry further: This is a good example of the curious behaviour of electrons. How do the electrons get from one half of the pi bond to the other if they are never found in between? It's an unanswerable question if you think of electrons as particles. If you want to follow this up, you will have to read some fairly high-powered stuff on the wave nature of electrons.

Even if your syllabus doesn't expect you to know how a pi bond is formed, it will expect you to know that it exists. The pi bond dominates the chemistry of ethene. It is very vulnerable to attack - a very negative region of space above and below the plane of the molecule. It is also somewhat distant from the control of the nuclei and so is a weaker bond than the sigma bond joining the two carbons.
Important! Check your syllabus! Find out whether you actually need to know how a pi bond is formed. Don't forget to look under ethene as well as in the bonding section of your syllabus. If you don't need to know it, there's no point in learning it! You will, however, need to know that a pi bond exists - that the two bonds between the carbon atoms in ethene aren't both the same.

If you are working to a UK-based syllabus, but haven't got a copy of it, find out how to download one.

GIANT COVALENT STRUCTURES

This page decribes the structures of giant covalent substances like diamond, graphite and silicon dioxide (silicon(IV) oxide), and relates those structures to the physical properties of the substances.

The structure of diamond

The giant covalent structure of diamond Carbon has an electronic arrangement of 2,4. In diamond, each carbon shares electrons with four other carbon atoms - forming four single bonds.

In the diagram some carbon atoms only seem to be forming two bonds (or even one bond), but that's not really the case. We are only showing a small bit of the whole structure. This is a giant covalent structure - it continues on and on in three dimensions. It is not a molecule, because the number of atoms joined up in a real diamond is completely variable - depending on the size of the crystal.

Note: We quoted the electronic structure of carbon as 2,4. That simple view is perfectly adequate to explain the bonding in diamond. If you are interested in a more modern view, you could read the page on bonding in methane and ethane in the organic section of this site. In the case of diamond, each carbon is bonded to 4 other carbons rather than hydrogens, but that makes no essential difference.

How to draw the structure of diamond Don't try to be too clever by trying to draw too much of the structure! Learn to draw the diagram given above. Do it in the following stages:

Practise until you can do a reasonable free-hand sketch in about 30 seconds.

The physical properties of diamond Diamond

has a very high melting point (almost 4000C). Very strong carbon-carbon covalent bonds have to be broken throughout the structure before melting occurs. is very hard. This is again due to the need to break very strong covalent bonds operating in 3-dimensions. doesn't conduct electricity. All the electrons are held tightly between the atoms, and aren't free to move. is insoluble in water and organic solvents. There are no possible attractions which could occur between solvent molecules and carbon atoms which could outweigh the attractions between the covalently bound carbon atoms.

The structure of graphite

The giant covalent structure of graphite Graphite has a layer structure which is quite difficult to draw convincingly in three dimensions. The diagram below shows the arrangement of the atoms in each layer, and the way the layers are spaced.

Notice that you can't really draw the side view of the layers to the same scale as the atoms in the layer without one or other part of the diagram being either very spread out or very squashed. In that case, it is important to give some idea of the distances involved. The distance between the layers is about 2.5 times the distance between the atoms within each layer. The layers, of course, extend over huge numbers of atoms - not just the few shown above. You might argue that carbon has to form 4 bonds because of its 4 unpaired electrons, whereas in this diagram it only seems to be forming 3 bonds to the neighbouring carbons. This diagram is something of a simplification, and shows the arrangement of atoms rather than the bonding.

The bonding in graphite

Each carbon atom uses three of its electrons to form simple bonds to its three close neighbours. That leaves a fourth electron in the bonding level. These "spare" electrons in each carbon atom become delocalised over the whole of the sheet of atoms in one layer. They are no longer associated directly with any particular atom or pair of atoms, but are free to wander throughout the whole sheet.

If you are interested (beyond A'level): The bonding in graphite is like a vastly extended version of the bonding in benzene. Each 2 carbon atom undergoes sp hybridisation, and then the unhybridised p orbitals on each carbon atom overlap sideways to give a massive pi system above and below the plane of the sheet of atoms.

The important thing is that the delocalised electrons are free to move anywhere within the sheet - each electron is no longer fixed to a particular carbon atom. There is, however, no direct contact between the delocalised electrons in one sheet and those in the neighbouring sheets. The atoms within a sheet are held together by strong covalent bonds - stronger, in fact, than in diamond because of the additional bonding caused by the delocalised electrons. So what holds the sheets together? In graphite you have the ultimate example of van der Waals dispersion forces. As the delocalised electrons move around in the sheet, very large temporary dipoles can be set up which will induce opposite dipoles in the sheets above and below - and so on throughout the whole graphite crystal.

Note: If you aren't sure about van der Waals forces follow this link before you go on. Use the BACK button on your browser to return to this page.

The physical properties of graphite Graphite

has a high melting point, similar to that of diamond. In order to melt graphite, it isn't enough to loosen one sheet from another. You have to break the covalent bonding throughout the whole structure. has a soft, slippery feel, and is used in pencils and as a dry lubricant for things like locks. You can think of graphite rather like a pack of cards - each card is strong, but the cards will slide over each other, or even fall off the pack altogether. When you use a pencil, sheets are rubbed off and stick to the paper. has a lower density than diamond. This is because of the relatively large amount of space that is "wasted" between the sheets. is insoluble in water and organic solvents - for the same reason that diamond is insoluble. Attractions between solvent molecules and carbon atoms will never be strong enough to overcome the strong covalent bonds in graphite. conducts electricity. The delocalised electrons are free to move throughout the sheets. If a piece of graphite is connected into a circuit, electrons can fall off one end of the sheet and be replaced with new ones at the other end.

Note: The logic of this is that a piece of graphite ought only to conduct electricity in 2-dimensions because electrons can only move around in the sheets - and not from one sheet to its neighbours. In practice, a real piece of graphite isn't a perfect crystal, but a host of small crystals stuck together at all sorts of angles. Electrons will be able to find a route through the large piece of graphite in all directions by moving from one small crystal to the next.

The structure of silicon dioxide, SiO2

Silicon dioxide is also known as silicon(IV) oxide. The giant covalent structure of silicon dioxide There are three different crystal forms of silicon dioxide. The easiest one to remember and draw is based on the diamond structure. Crystalline silicon has the same structure as diamond. To turn it into silicon dioxide, all you need to do is to modify the silicon structure by including some oxygen atoms.

Notice that each silicon atom is bridged to its neighbours by an oxygen atom. Don't forget that this is just a tiny part of a giant structure extending on all 3 dimensions.

Note: If you want to be fussy, the Si-O-Si bond angles are wrong in this diagram. In reality the "bridge" from one silicon atom to its neighbour isn't in a straight line, but via a "V" shape (similar to the shape around the oxygen atom in a water molecule). It's extremely difficult to draw that convincingly and tidily in a diagram involving this number of atoms. The simplification is perfectly acceptable.

The physical properties of silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide

has a high melting point - varying depending on what the particular structure is (remember that the structure given is

only one of three possible structures), but around 1700C. Very strong silicon-oxygen covalent bonds have to be broken throughout the structure before melting occurs. is hard. This is due to the need to break the very strong covalent bonds. doesn't conduct electricity. There aren't any delocalised electrons. All the electrons are held tightly between the atoms, and aren't free to move. is insoluble in water and organic solvents. There are no possible attractions which could occur between solvent molecules and the silicon or oxygen atoms which could overcome the covalent bonds in the giant structure.

All double bonds (whatever atoms they might be joining) will consist of a sigma bond and a pi bond. This orbital view of the double bond is only really important at this level with regard to organic compounds. If you want to read more about this, follow the first link below which leads you to the menu for a section specifically on organic bonding. You will find the description of ethene repeated, but will also find information about the bonding in benzene and in the carbon-oxygen double bond.

MOLECULAR STRUCTURES
This page describes how the physical properties of substances having molecular structures varies with the type of intermolecular attractions - hydrogen bonding or van der Waals forces.
Important! There's not much point in reading this page unless you are reasonably happy about the origin of hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces. Follow these links first if you aren't sure about these.

The physical properties of molecular substances

Molecules are made of fixed numbers of atoms joined together

by covalent bonds, and can range from the very small (even down to single atoms, as in the noble gases) to the very large (as in polymers, proteins or even DNA). The covalent bonds holding the molecules together are very strong, but these are largely irrelevant to the physical properties of the substance. Physical properties are governed by the intermolecular forces - forces attracting one molecule to its neighbours - van der Waals attractions or hydrogen bonds. Melting and boiling points Molecular substances tend to be gases, liquids or low melting point solids, because the intermolecular forces of attraction are comparatively weak. You don't have to break any covalent bonds in order to melt or boil a molecular substance.
Note: This is really important! You can make yourself look extremely stupid if you imply in an exam that boiling water, for example, splits it into hydrogen and oxygen by breaking covalent bonds. Exactly the same water molecules are present in ice, water and steam.

The size of the melting or boiling point will depend on the strength of the intermolecular forces. The presence of hydrogen bonding will lift the melting and boiling points. The larger the molecule the more van der Waals attractions are possible - and those will also need more energy to break.

Solubility in water Most molecular substances are insoluble (or only very sparingly soluble) in water. Those which do dissolve often react with the water, or else are capable of forming hydrogen bonds with the water. Why doesn't methane, CH4, dissolve in water? The methane itself isn't the problem. Methane is a gas, and so its molecules are already separate - the water doesn't need to pull them apart from one another.

The problem is the hydrogen bonds between the water molecules. If methane were to dissolve, it would have to force its way between water molecules and so break hydrogen bonds. That costs a reasonable amount of energy. The only attractions possible between methane and water molecules are the much weaker van der Waals forces - and not much energy is released when these are set up. It simply isn't energetically profitable for the methane and water to mix. Why does ammonia, NH3, dissolve in water? Ammonia has the ability to form hydrogen bonds. When the hydrogen bonds between water molecules are broken, they can be replaced by equivalent bonds between water and ammonia molecules. Some of the ammonia also reacts with the water to produce ammonium ions and hydroxide ions.

The reversible arrows show that the reaction doesn't go to completion. At any one time only about 1% of the ammonia has actually reacted to form ammonium ions. The solubility of ammonia is mainly due to the hydrogen bonding and not the reaction. Other common substances which are freely soluble in water because they can hydrogen bond with water molecules include ethanol (alcohol) and sucrose (sugar).

Solubility in organic solvents Molecular substances are often soluble in organic solvents which are themselves molecular. Both the solute (the substance which is dissolving) and the solvent are likely to have molecules attracted to each other by van der Waals forces. Although these attractions will be disrupted when they mix, they are replaced by similar ones between the two different sorts of molecules.

Electrical conductivity Molecular substances won't conduct electricity. Even in cases where electrons may be delocalised within a particular molecule, there isn't sufficient contact between the molecules to allow the electrons to move through the whole solid or liquid.

Some individual examples

Iodine, I2 Iodine is a dark grey crystalline solid with a purple vapour. M.Pt: 114C. B.Pt: 184C. It is very, very slightly soluble in water, but dissolves freely in organic solvents. Iodine is therefore a low melting point solid. The crystallinity suggests a regular packing of the molecules.

The structure is described as face centred cubic - it is a cube of iodine molecules with another molecule at the centre of each face. The orientation of the iodine molecules within this structure is quite difficult to draw (let alone remember!). If your syllabus and past exam papers suggests that you need to remember it, look carefully at the next sequence of diagrams showing the layers.
Note: If you are studying a UK-based syllabus and haven't got a copy of your syllabus or copies of recent past papers, follow this link to find out how to get them.

Notice that as you look down on the cube, all the molecules on the left and right hand sides are aligned the same way. The ones in the middle are aligned in the opposite way. All these diagrams show an "exploded" view of the crystal. The iodine molecules are, of course, touching each other. Measurements of the distances between the centres of the atoms in the crystal show two different values:

The iodine atoms within each molecule are pulled closely together by the covalent bond. The van der Waals attraction between the molecules is much weaker, and you can think of the atoms in two separate molecules as just loosely touching each other.

Ice Ice is a good example of a hydrogen bonded solid. There are lots of different ways that the water molecules can be arranged in ice. This is one of them, but NOT the common one I can't draw that in any way that makes sense! The one below is known as "cubic ice", or "ice Ic". It is based on the water molecules arranged in a diamond structure.

This is just a small part of a structure which extends over huge numbers of molecules in three dimensions. In the diagram, the lines represent hydrogen bonds. The lone pairs that the hydrogen atoms are attracted to are left out for clarity. Cubic ice is only stable at temperatures below -80C. The ice you are familiar with has a different, hexagonal structure. It is called "ice Ih".
Note: Don't worry about this problem. If asked to draw ice in an exam at this level (16 - 18 year olds), don't try to be too clever. It is probably best not to go beyond the top five molecules in the above diagram. This will show the essential features of the bonding in the structure without getting bogged down in stuff which is far beyond this level. If you are interested in following this up, try a Google search using the search term ice structure hexagonal cubic (or something similar). This will throw up lots of information together with an assortment of fairly dreadful diagrams which I for one don't have the visual imagination to unscramble!

The unusual density behaviour of water The hydrogen bonding forces a rather open structure on the ice - if you made a model of it, you would find a significant amount of wasted space. When ice melts, the structure breaks down and the molecules tend to fill up this wasted space. This means that the water formed takes up less space than the original ice. Ice is a very unusual solid in this respect - most solids show an increase in volume on melting.

When water freezes, the opposite happens - there is an expansion as the hydrogen bonded structure establishes. Most liquids contract on freezing. Remnants of the rigid hydrogen bonded structure are still present in very cold liquid water, and don't finally disappear until 4C. From 0C to 4C, the density of water increases as the molecules free themselves from the open structure and take up less space. After 4C, the thermal motion of the molecules causes them to move apart and the density falls. That's the normal behaviour with liquids on heating.
Note: You can find more about water (particularly its abnormally high boiling point) in the page on hydrogen bonding.

Polymers Bonding in polymers Polymers like poly(ethene) - commonly called polythene consist of very long molecules. Poly(ethene) molecules are made by joining up lots of ethene molecules into chains of covalently bound carbon atoms with hydrogens attached. There may be short branches along the main chain, also consisting of carbon chains with attached hydrogens. The molecules are attracted to each other in the solid by van der Waals dispersion forces. By controlling the conditions under which ethene is polymerised, it is possible to control the amount of branching to give two distinct types of polythene. High density polythene High density polythene has virtually unbranched chains. The lack of branching allows molecules to lie close together in a regular way which is almost crystalline. Because the molecules lie close together, dispersion forces are more effective, and so the plastic is relatively strong and has a

somewhat higher melting point than low density polythene. High density polythene is used for containers for household chemicals like washing-up liquid, for example, or for bowls or buckets. Low density polythene Low density polythene has lots of short branches along the chain. These branches prevent the chains from lying close together in a tidy arrangement. As a result dispersion forces are less and the plastic is weaker and has a lower melting point. Its density is lower, of course, because of the wasted space within the unevenly packed structure. Low density polythene is used for things like plastic bags.

POLARISATION

METALLIC BONDING
This page introduces the bonding in metals. It explains how the metallic bond arises and why its strength varies from metal to metal.

What is a metallic bond?

Metallic bonding in sodium Metals tend to have high melting points and boiling points suggesting strong bonds between the atoms. Even a metal like sodium (melting point 97.8C) melts at a considerably higher temperature than the element (neon) which precedes it in the Periodic Table.

Sodium has the electronic structure 1s22s22p63s1. When sodium atoms come together, the electron in the 3s atomic orbital of one sodium atom shares space with the corresponding electron on a neighbouring atom to form a molecular orbital - in much the same sort of way that a covalent bond is formed. The difference, however, is that each sodium atom is being touched by eight other sodium atoms - and the sharing occurs between the central atom and the 3s orbitals on all of the eight other atoms. And each of these eight is in turn being touched by eight sodium atoms, which in turn are touched by eight atoms and so on and so on, until you have taken in all the atoms in that lump of sodium. All of the 3s orbitals on all of the atoms overlap to give a vast number of molecular orbitals which extend over the whole piece of metal. There have to be huge numbers of molecular orbitals, of course, because any orbital can only hold two electrons. The electrons can move freely within these molecular orbitals, and so each electron becomes detached from its parent atom. The electrons are said to be delocalised. The metal is held together by the strong forces of attraction between the positive nuclei and the delocalised electrons.

This is sometimes described as "an array of positive ions in a sea of electrons". If you are going to use this view, beware! Is a metal made up of atoms or ions? It is made of atoms. Each positive centre in the diagram represents all the rest of the atom apart from the outer electron, but that electron hasn't been lost - it may no longer have an attachment to a particular atom, but it's still there in the structure. Sodium metal is therefore

written as Na - not Na+. Metallic bonding in magnesium If you work through the same argument with magnesium, you end up with stronger bonds and so a higher melting point. Magnesium has the outer electronic structure 3s2. Both of these electrons become delocalised, so the "sea" has twice the electron density as it does in sodium. The remaining "ions" also have twice the charge (if you are going to use this particular view of the metal bond) and so there will be more attraction between "ions" and "sea". More realistically, each magnesium atom has 12 protons in the nucleus compared with sodium's 11. In both cases, the nucleus is screened from the delocalised electrons by the same number of inner electrons - the 10 electrons in the 1s2 2s2 2p6 orbitals. That means that there will be a net pull from the magnesium nucleus of 2+, but only 1+ from the sodium nucleus. So not only will there be a greater number of delocalised electrons in magnesium, but there will also be a greater attraction for them from the magnesium nuclei. Magnesium atoms also have a slightly smaller radius than sodium atoms, and so the delocalised electrons are closer to the nuclei. Each magnesium atom also has twelve near neighbours rather than sodium's eight. Both of these factors increase the strength of the bond still further. Metallic bonding in transition elements Transition metals tend to have particularly high melting points and boiling points. The reason is that they can involve the 3d electrons in the delocalisation as well as the 4s. The more electrons you can involve, the stronger the attractions tend to be.
Note: If you aren't happy about the electronic structure of transition metals, then you might like to follow this link to revise it.

The metallic bond in molten metals In a molten metal, the metallic bond is still present, although the ordered structure has been broken down. The metallic bond isn't fully broken until the metal boils. That means that boiling point is actually a better guide to the strength of the metallic bond than melting point is. On melting, the bond is loosened, not broken.

METALLIC STRUCTURES
This page decribes the structure of metals, and relates that structure to the physical properties of the metal.

The structure of metals

The arrangement of the atoms Metals are giant structures of atoms held together by metallic bonds. "Giant" implies that large but variable numbers of atoms are involved - depending on the size of the bit of metal.
Note: Before you go on, it might be a good idea to read the page on bonding in metals unless you are reasonably happy about the idea of the delocalised electrons ("sea of electrons") in metals.

12-co-ordination Most metals are close packed - that is, they fit as many atoms as possible into the available volume. Each atom in the structure has 12 touching neighbours. Such a metal is described as 12co-ordinated. Each atom has 6 other atoms touching it in each layer.

There are also 3 atoms touching any particular atom in the layer above and another 3 in the layer underneath.

This second diagram shows the layer immediately above the first layer. There will be a corresponding layer underneath. (There are actually two different ways of placing the third layer in a close packed structure, but that goes beyond the requirements of current A'level syllabuses.) 8-co-ordination Some metals (notably those in Group 1 of the Periodic Table) are packed less efficiently, having only 8 touching neighbours. These are 8-co-ordinated.

The left hand diagram shows that no atoms are touching each other within a particular layer . They are only touched by the atoms in the layers above and below. The right hand diagram shows the 8 atoms (4 above and 4 below) touching the darker coloured one. Crystal grains It would be misleading to suppose that all the atoms in a piece of metal are arranged in a regular way. Any piece of metal is made up of a large number of "crystal grains", which are regions of regularity. At the grain boundaries atoms have become misaligned.

Note: Within a crystal grain you get rather subtle irregularities known as dislocations. It isn't important to know about these for UK A level Chemistry (or equivalent) purposes, although they turn out to be essential in discussing the workability of metals at a higher level. I haven't included a description of them here because it is quite difficult to visualise how they work, and I don't want to add unnecessary complications.

The physical properties of metals

Melting points and boiling points Metals tend to have high melting and boiling points because of the strength of the metallic bond. The strength of the bond varies from metal to metal and depends on the number of electrons which each atom delocalises into the sea of electrons, and on the packing. Group 1 metals like sodium and potassium have relatively low melting and boiling points mainly because each atom only has one electron to contribute to the bond - but there are other problems as well:

Group 1 elements are also inefficiently packed (8-coordinated), so that they aren't forming as many bonds as most metals. They have relatively large atoms (meaning that the nuclei are some distance from the delocalised electrons) which also weakens the bond.

Electrical conductivity Metals conduct electricity. The delocalised electrons are free to move throughout the structure in 3-dimensions. They can cross grain boundaries. Even though the pattern may be disrupted at

the boundary, as long as atoms are touching each other, the metallic bond is still present. Liquid metals also conduct electricity, showing that although the metal atoms may be free to move, the delocalisation remains in force until the metal boils.

Thermal conductivity Metals are good conductors of heat. Heat energy is picked up by the electrons as additional kinetic energy (it makes them move faster). The energy is transferred throughout the rest of the metal by the moving electrons.

Strength and workability Malleability and ductility Metals are described as malleable (can be beaten into sheets) and ductile (can be pulled out into wires). This is because of the ability of the atoms to roll over each other into new positions without breaking the metallic bond. If a small stress is put onto the metal, the layers of atoms will start to roll over each other. If the stress is released again, they will fall back to their original positions. Under these circumstances, the metal is said to be elastic.

If a larger stress is put on, the atoms roll over each other into a new position, and the metal is permanently changed.

The hardness of metals This rolling of layers of atoms over each other is hindered by grain boundaries because the rows of atoms don't line up properly. It follows that the more grain boundaries there are (the smaller the individual crystal grains), the harder the metal becomes. Offsetting this, because the grain boundaries are areas where the atoms aren't in such good contact with each other, metals tend to fracture at grain boundaries. Increasing the number of grain boundaries not only makes the metal harder, but also makes it more brittle. Controlling the size of the crystal grains If you have a pure piece of metal, you can control the size of the grains by heat treatment or by working the metal. Heating a metal tends to shake the atoms into a more regular arrangement - decreasing the number of grain boundaries, and so making the metal softer. Banging the metal around when it is cold tends to produce lots of small grains. Cold working therefore makes a metal harder. To restore its workability, you would need to reheat it. You can also break up the regular arrangement of the atoms by inserting atoms of a slightly different size into the structure. Alloys such as brass (a mixture of copper and zinc) are harder than the original metals because the irregularity in the structure helps to stop rows of atoms from slipping over each other.