Question

Explain in brief with one example of a covalent bond

Answer 1

The attractive force which exists due to the mutual sharing of electrons between the two atoms of similar electronegativity or having a small difference in electronegativities is called a covalent bond.

Formation of H₂ molecule:

1. The electronic configuration of the H atom is 1s¹.
2. It needs one more electron to complete its valence shell.
3. When two hydrogen atoms approach each other at a certain internuclear distance, they share their valence electrons.
4. The shared pair of electrons belong equally to both the hydrogen atoms. The two atoms are said to be linked by a single covalent bond and an H₂ molecule is formed.
   \[\ce{H. + .H->\underset{\text{shared pair of electrons}}{H:H}}\] OR H–H