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HOW TO FIND THE NATURE OF BONDS FORMED BY DIFFERENT ATOMS?
The farther apart (left to right) the two elements are in the periodic table, the more ionic and the less covalent will be the bond between them. Thus, metals react with nonmetals to form ions joined by ionic bonds. Bonds with the highest degree of ionic character are formed by the reaction of alkali or alkaline earth metals with the halogens, particularly with fluorine or chlorine. Nonmetals react together to form covalent bonds.
Nature of bond can also be explained by the concept of electronegativity.If the atoms forming the bond differ in electronegativity by more than 1.7 units, the bond will be ionic.If the values differ by less than 0.4 units, we consider the bond to be wholly nonpolar. If the difference is between 0.4 and 1.7 electronegativity units, the bond is considered to be covalent.


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