What particles may be gained, lost, or shared by an atom when it forms a chemical bond?

2 Answers
Dec 14, 2016

None are gained or lost, because that would imply creation or destruction of matter, respectively. Valence electrons of the elements in the bond are shared.

Dec 14, 2016

The #"gain"#, #"loss"#, or #"sharing"# of #"electrons"# occurs in every chemical bond.

Explanation:

Should electrons be lost by one particle, and gained by another particle, the now charged particles can be chemically bound by an ionic bond.

Should a pair of electrons form a region of high electron density between two positively charged atomic nuclei, a bond can occur in that mutual attraction of the positively charged nuclei towards the region of high electron density operates. This is a long-winded description of a covalent bond.