Chemistry

What is a chemical bond?

The attractive force which holds together the constituent particles (atoms, ions or molecules) in a chemical species is known as chemical bond.

Example: Two atoms of hydrogen join with each other in a chemical bond to form a molecule of hydrogen (H2).

Similarly an atom of oxygen joins with two atoms of hydrogen in a chemical bond to form a molecule of water (H2O).

There are four main types of chemical bond.

  1. Electrovalent or ionic bond
  2. Covalent bond
  3. Co-ordinate covalent bond
  4. Metallic bond

Except these bonds, there is another kind of bond which is weaker than that of real bond. These weak bonds are of three types which are-

  • Vander Waal’s force,
  • hydrogen bond and
  • dipole-dipole attraction.