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What does non-directional mean?
- Thread starter t man
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Isnt that because the charges surround the nucleus? Think about how the electrons spread around the nucleus.
ionic bonds do not have dipoles.
in covalent bonds the outer shell electrons are shared between the two respective atoms. but if the electronegativities (ENV) are different (<1.7) then the atoms are not shared between them equally; the e- will be "pulled" to the more ENV atom creating a partial neg charge on one side of the molecule and a partial pos charge on the other. this unequal "sharing" of e- is what causes the dipole moment (two unlike charges in close proximity) to occur. that dipole moment will have a discret direction associated with it much like a vector - the direction of the most ENV atom.
now in ionic bonds (change in ENV>1.7) the atoms do not share electrons. they are held together by electrostatic forces (much weaker than covalent forces BTW) which arises from the complete transfer of one or more electron(s) to an adjacent atom. now the 2 atoms will "stick" together like opposite poles of a magnet as the charge in both atoms are the same in magnitude, just opposite in charge.
hope that helped 😀
