9. Putting Atoms Together – Introducing Chemical Bonding
10. Graphing Attraction and Repulsion
11. Combining H⁺, H, and He
12. Combining H with B–Ne
13. Combining H with Li
14. Combining H with Be
15. B and C Revisited
16. Multiple Bonding in N₂
17. Summing Up

We've now assembled eighteen of the atoms in the periodic table. One of the fun parts of chemistry is putting atoms together to see what happens. Sometimes we get molecules, sometimes we don't. In this chapter, we will explore what happens when we bring together different combinations of just two atoms or ions at a time to see if they will form a bond or not. Molecules made of just two atoms are called diatomic molecules. In Chapter 3, we will study polyatomic molecules. An example reaction is shown below, the addition of H to F.

9.1

We have two goals in this chapter. Our first goal is to understand why chemical bonds form at all. Our other goal is to see how many different kinds of chemical bonds can exist. We'll find that most of the bond types share something in common with each other, but there will be a couple of exceptions, too. The better we understand the variety of ways that bond can form, the better we'll achieve the first goal of understanding why chemical bonds form.

As in Chapter 1, we will pose questions from time to time so you can see if you're understanding what you've read.

Before we start combining atoms to see what happens, we will look at what attraction and repulsion look like in graphical form. We will then use graphs of this type through the rest of the chapter as a way of gauging what happens when atom A encounters atom B.