How would you contrast single covalent bonds?

1 Answer
Oct 25, 2017

Well, let us contrast them on the basis of polarity.....

Explanation:

Polarity reflects charge separation of electron density between the bound atoms....

Homonuclear diatomic molecules, such as #H-H#, and #X-X#, dihydrogen, and the halogens are necessarily NON-POLAR because the bound atoms have the same electronegativity and thus electron density is shared equally...Bond polarity is also not a feature of the wealth of carbon chemistry, due to the small difference in electronegativity of carbon and hydrogen....and the capacity of carbon to catenate....to form long #C-C# chains, along which substitution by heteroatoms can occur.

When two or more non-polar atoms are bound, say between #H-F# or #H-O-H#, bond polarity manifests due to the difference in bond polarity, and this is the origin of intermolecular hydrogen bonding, i.e. on the back of dipole-dipole interactions.... #""^(+delta)H-F^(delta-)#, and #""^(+delta)H_2O^(delta-)#. Of course this represents the extreme end of polar bond.....

THE bond in say #H_2S#, #Br-Cl# would display much less charge separation, and much less polarity....because the bound atoms have a SMALLER difference in electronegativity.