The Name’s Bond, Chemical Bond…

Atoms consist of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons with a cloud of electrons orbiting. You can find more about the structure of atoms by reading my post on Atoms and Molecules.

Atoms combine to form new substances in one of two ways. Either they exchange electrons to form electrically charged ionic bonds or they team up and share electrons forming covalent bonds. When metals react with non-metals (they don’t normally react with other metals) they tend to form ionic bonds. The compounds so formed often dissolve in water such that the substance breaks up into charged particles called ions. The metal, having lost electrons becomes positively charge and the non-metal part, having gained electrons, becomes negatively charged.

Non-metal elements tend to form covalent bonds with one another whereby they share electrons. This means that they do not become so obviously charged and are often less willing to dissolve in water. Organic molecules (ones derived from living matter and consisting chiefly of carbon) are covalently bonded. Salts, mineral acids and alkalis will tend to be ionically bonded. Chemistry will start to make a lot more sense once this picture of how compounds behave becomes established in your mind.

This video explains this rather nicely.