Chemical bonds are simply how the atoms “hook” together.
Instead of atoms being physically attachment, much like a button that hooks into a button hole, chemical bonds are electrical attractions, called electromagnetic forces.
Electrons are negatively charged particles that move around the center of an atom called the nucleus. The nucleus is where the atom’s positively charged particles called protons group together.
An electromagnetic force is the attraction between an atom’s negatively (-) charged electrons and its positively (+) charged protons in its nucleus.
The electrons in the outer most energy level from the nucleus are called valence electrons. Valence electrons are generally the electrons involved in a chemical bond.
When two atoms share valence electrons, the shared electrons are attracted to the nucleus of both atoms. Thus the two atoms have an attraction that keeps them linked together. This type of linking of shared valence electrons is called a covalent bond.
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