Covalent Compounds
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Molecular Lewis Diagrams

Covalent Compounds

When atoms of different nonmetals combine, the nature of covalent bonding - sharing electrons - often dictates that a certain number of atoms of each of the different elements combine with one another in order for the bonding to work out just right. This establishes a certain ratio of atoms, which in turn establishes a certain value for the composition of the material, which makes it a compound. In short, the nature of covalent bonding dictates that atoms of nonmetal elements combine with one another to form compounds .

In this section we will first look at how covalent compounds are named and then use Lewis diagrams to look at how they are put together.

 

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