H2o what kind of bond

The covalent bond is formed due to the sharing of electron occurs between hydrogen and oxygen atoms in order to complete their octet shell and hence, attains stability. Every atom wants to attain stability either by sharing electrons or completing the transfer of electrons. Only the nature of the bond is changed as if the sharing of electrons occurs between atoms then the bond is formed called a covalent bond.

Same as when a complete transfer of electrons occurs between the atoms then the bond is formed which is called an ionic bond. The covalent bond is formed in H 2 O because of sharing of electrons occur between hydrogen and oxygen atom. First of all, there are two types of atoms present in the water molecules — hydrogen and an oxygen atom. Every atom wants to complete its octet i.

Atoms can complete their octet by bonding with other elements or atoms with the help of either sharing of electrons or the complete transfer of electrons. In the case of an H 2 O molecule, when hydrogen and oxygen atoms are placed together, they will share the electrons with each other to complete their octet and hence, makes a covalent bond.

Note: The hydrogen atom has only one valence electron and for completing the octet it needs one more electron. And the oxygen atom has 6 valence electrons in its outermost shell and it needs 2 more electrons to complete its octet.

Hence, both oxygen and hydrogen will share the electrons with each other and due to this, a bond is formed between them which is called a covalent bond.

As we see in the above figure of covalent bond formation in H 2 O, hydrogen atoms have one valence electron represented as an orange dot, and oxygen has six valence electrons represented as blue dots in their outermost shell.

The hydrogen atom needs one more electron and the oxygen atom needs two more electrons to complete the octet, hence, both of these will share the valence electron of each other. Therefore, the sharing of electrons between hydrogen and oxygen atom makes a covalent bond in H 2 O or water molecules. Note: The lone pair electrons can never take parts in chemical bonding or they never share electrons with any of the atoms.

The shared pair of electrons is also called bonded pair of electrons. H 2 O is not an ionic compound because the bond formed between hydrogen and oxygen is due to sharing of electrons.

In ionic compounds, the bond is formed between two atoms by the exchange of electrons from one atom to another. There is no sharing of electrons involves in ionic compounds.

Also, ionic compounds are mostly formed between one metal and another nonmetal. Usually, the electron is completely transferred from the metal atom to the nonmetal in an ionic compound. In the case of an H 2 O molecule, the bond formed between hydrogen and oxygen is due to the sharing of electrons. Also, both hydrogen and oxygen are nonmetal belongs to the p-block in the periodic table, hence, two nonmetal atoms reacting with each other form the covalent bond due to sharing of electrons involves in them.

There are more reasons why H 2 O forms a covalent bond and not an ionic bond? So, in the case of the H 2 O molecules, the difference of electronegativity between hydrogen and oxygen atoms is 1. So, Is H 2 O a pure covalent bond? Electrons are shared differently in ionic and covalent bonds.

Covalent bonds can be non-polar or polar and react to electrostatic charges. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes. Skip to main content. Search form Search. Join The Community Request new password. Main menu About this Site Table of Contents. Types of Covalent Bonds: Polar and Nonpolar. In unit two, we compared atoms to puppies and electrons to bones in our analogy of how bonding works. Now one puppy has two electron bones and one puppy has none.

Because the electron bones in our analogy have a negative charge, the puppy thief becomes negatively charged due to the additional bone. The puppy that lost its electron bone becomes positively charged. Because the puppy who lost his bone has the opposite charge of the thief puppy, the puppies are held together by electrostatic forces, just like sodium and chloride ions!

In our analogy, each puppy again starts out with an electron bone. I edited your question to put them in. Check out our faq for more info. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Eric Brown Eric Brown 3, 16 16 silver badges 25 25 bronze badges. PurityLake PurityLake 3 3 bronze badges. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name.

Email Required, but never shown. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. Version labels for answers. Opposites attract, so this lopsided charge difference allows bonds to form between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of adjacent H 2 O molecules. Each H 2 O can bind to a maximum of four neighbors through these so-called hydrogen bonds.