Another chemical bonding mechanism is the metallic bond. In the metallic bond, an atom achieves a more stable configuration by sharing the electrons in its outer shell with many other atoms. Metallic bonds prevail in elements in which the valence electrons are not tightly bound with the nucleus, namely metals, thus the name metallic bonding. In this type of bond, each atom in a metal crystal contributes all the electrons in its valence shell to all other atoms in the crystal.

Another way of looking at this mechanism is to imagine that the valence electrons are not closely associated with individual atoms, but instead move around amongst the atoms within the crystal. Therefore, the individual atoms can "slip" over one another yet remain firmly held together by the electrostatic forces exerted by the electrons. This is why most metals can be hammered into thin sheets (malleable) or drawn into thin wires (ductile). When an electrical potential difference is applied, the electrons move freely between atoms, and a current flows.

Van der Waals Forces

In addition to chemical bonding between atoms, there is another type of attractive force that exists between atoms, ions, or molecules known as van der Waals forces.

These forces occur between the molecules of nonpolar covalent substances such as H₂, Cl₂, and He. These forces are generally believed to be caused by a temporary dipole, or unequal charge distribution, as electrons constantly move about in an atom, ion, or molecule. At a given instant, more electrons may be in one region than in another region, as illustrated in Figure 10.

The temporary dipole induces a similar temporary dipole on a nearby atom, ion, or molecule. Every instant, billions of these temporary dipoles form, break apart, and reform to act as a weak electrostatic force of attraction known as van der Waals forces.

It is important to note that van der Waals forces exist between all kinds of molecules. Some molecules may have these forces, as well as dipole or other intermolecular forces. Van der Waals forces, however, are the only intermolecular bonds between nonpolar covalent molecules such as H₂, Cl₂, and CH₄,. The number of electrons in a substance increases as the gram molecular mass (mass in grams of one mole of compound) increases. Therefore, the strength of the van der Waals forces between substances increases with increasing gram molecular mass.

Figure 10 Van der Waals Forces

Van der Waals forces are small compared to the forces of chemical bonding and are significant only when the molecules are very close together.

Organic Chemistry

Organic chemistry is defined as the chemistry of carbon compounds. The compounds of carbon are in forms of living things and in synthetic fabrics and plastics. Organic chemistry is so broad a topic that it is usually subdivided into smaller areas. How the carbon is combined and what it is combined with determines the subdivision for a particular compound. These subdivisions are referred to as families or classes.

The carbon atoms can combine to form straight chains, rings, or branched chains. The bonds between carbon atoms can be single, double, triple or a combination of these. Other atoms (H, O, N, S, P) and the halogens can be attached to the carbon atoms to yield derivatives.

The large family of organic compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen are called hydrocarbons. These can be further divided into two broad classes, aliphatic (fatty) and aromatic (fragrant).

Aliphatic hydrocarbons are divided into two categories, saturated and unsaturated and into subdivisions alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes. These subdivisions reflect the type of bond between the carbon atoms.