Learn More 5 Bhavya Kothari Direct link to Christian Krach's post In biology it is all abou, Posted 6 years ago. So in general, we can predict that any metal-nonmetal combination will be ionic and any nonmetal-nonmetal combination will be covalent. If atoms have similar electronegativities (the same affinity for electrons), covalent bonds are most likely to occur. is shared under a CC BY-NC 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Chris Schaller via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request. [ "article:topic", "authorname:cschaller", "showtoc:no", "license:ccbync", "licenseversion:30", "source@https://employees.csbsju.edu/cschaller/structure.htm" ], https://chem.libretexts.org/@app/auth/3/login?returnto=https%3A%2F%2Fchem.libretexts.org%2FBookshelves%2FGeneral_Chemistry%2FBook%253A_Structure_and_Reactivity_in_Organic_Biological_and_Inorganic_Chemistry_(Schaller)%2FI%253A__Chemical_Structure_and_Properties%2F04%253A_Introduction_to_Molecules%2F4.07%253A_Which_Bonds_are_Ionic_and_Which_are_Covalent, \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}}}\) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\), College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University, source@https://employees.csbsju.edu/cschaller/structure.htm, status page at https://status.libretexts.org, atom is present as an oxyanion; usually a common form, atom is present as an oxyanion, but with fewer oxygens (or lower "oxidation state") than another common form, atom is present as an oxyanion, but with even more oxygens than the "-ate" form, atom is present as an oxyanion, but with even fewer oxygens than the "-ite" form. Electrons in pi bonds are held more loosely than electrons in sigma bonds, for reasons involving quantum mechanics. Is CH3Li ionic or a covalent bond? This type of bonding occurs between two atoms of the same element or of elements close to each other in the periodic table. It is just electropositive enough to form ionic bonds in some cases. For the ionic solid MX, the lattice energy is the enthalpy change of the process: \[MX_{(s)}Mn^+_{(g)}+X^{n}_{(g)} \;\;\;\;\; H_{lattice} \label{EQ6} \].