Valence Electron Comparison
The reason that Sodium gives electrons when reacting with a substance such as Chloride instead of sharing electron in a reaction such as the Hydrogen and Oxygen forming water molecules can be found in the type of bond in each example reaction. Before I can identify the contrasting characteristics of each reaction, I must first acknowledge the reason atoms react with one another in the first place. Each element has a certain number of valence electrons, an example being Sodium having one valence electron. When elements react they are trying to get a full shell of eight valence electrons by either giving away, taking in, or sharing valence electrons. The best way I can think to describe how atoms decide which method to do is that atoms have their
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The reasoning behind this has to with the fact that atoms like Hydrogen do not have another set of electrons under it single valence electron. Not only that but an atom with it's only valence electron would only need two more electrons in order to fill it's outer shell. Yes, it might seem to be just as easy to find an atom that has two valence electrons to give, but with Hydrogen's weak one proton nucleus, it wouldn't be able to keep the gained electrons for long. Making sharing the only real option for Hydrogen. Most atoms that make a covalent bond, like Oxygen in our example, are only missing one or two electrons in order to complete it's outer shell which makes it a likely contender for a couple of Hydrogen atoms to share with. In a covalent bond like this though, another property needs to considered, electronegativity. Electronegativity is the ability to steal electrons away from other atoms. So how would an atom with high electronegativity and an atom with low electronegativity be able to share electrons? Polarity occurs between the atoms causing the electrons to not completely leave the less electronegative atom, but instead makes it to where they spend less time on the side of the less electronegative atom. They are stuck together by the partially positive side of the covalently bonded molecule being attracted to the partially negative side of the covalently bonded
The reasoning behind this has to with the fact that atoms like Hydrogen do not have another set of electrons under it single valence electron. Not only that but an atom with it's only valence electron would only need two more electrons in order to fill it's outer shell. Yes, it might seem to be just as easy to find an atom that has two valence electrons to give, but with Hydrogen's weak one proton nucleus, it wouldn't be able to keep the gained electrons for long. Making sharing the only real option for Hydrogen. Most atoms that make a covalent bond, like Oxygen in our example, are only missing one or two electrons in order to complete it's outer shell which makes it a likely contender for a couple of Hydrogen atoms to share with. In a covalent bond like this though, another property needs to considered, electronegativity. Electronegativity is the ability to steal electrons away from other atoms. So how would an atom with high electronegativity and an atom with low electronegativity be able to share electrons? Polarity occurs between the atoms causing the electrons to not completely leave the less electronegative atom, but instead makes it to where they spend less time on the side of the less electronegative atom. They are stuck together by the partially positive side of the covalently bonded molecule being attracted to the partially negative side of the covalently bonded