A 

covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs

of electrons betweenatoms, and other covalent bonds. In short, the stable balance of attractive
and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons is known as covalent bonding.[1]

While the molecules can be described as "polar covalent", "non-polar covalent", or "ionic", it
must be noted that this is often a relative term, with one molecule simply being more
polar or more non-polar than another. However, the following properties are typical of such
molecules.

A molecule is composed of one or more chemical bonds between molecular orbitals of different

atoms. A molecule may be polar either as a result of polar bonds due to differences
in electronegativity as described above, or as a result of an asymmetric arrangement of non-polar
covalent bonds and non-bonding pairs of electrons known as a full molecular orbital.
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total
number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge

An anion (pronounced /ˈæn.aɪ.ən/ AN-eye-ən), from the Greek word ἄνω (ánō), meaning "up", is

an ion with more electrons than protons, giving it a net negative charge (since electrons are
negatively charged and protons are positively charged). Conversely,
a cation(pronounced /ˈkæt.aɪ.ən/ KAT-eye-ən), from the Greek word κατά (katá), meaning
"down", is an ion with fewer electrons than protons, giving it a positive charge. Since the charge
on a proton is equal in magnitude to the charge on an electron, the net charge on an ion is equal
to the number of protons in the ion minus the number of electrons.

A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a charged species (ion) composed of two

or more atoms covalently bonded or of a metal complex that can be considered as acting as a
single unit in the context of acid and base chemistry or in the formation of salts

The formation of an ionic bond proceeds when the cation, whose ionization energy is low,
releases some of its electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration. The anion,
whose electron affinity is positive, then accepts the electrons, again to attain a stable electron
configuration. Typically, the stable electron configuration is one of the noble gases for elements
in the s-block and the p-block, and particular stable electron configurations for d-block and f-
block elements. The electrostatic attraction between these two entities forms the ionic bond.

For example, common table salt is sodium chloride. When sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) are

combined, the sodium atoms each lose an electron, forming cations (Na+), and the chlorine atoms
each gain an electron to form anions (Cl−). These ions are then attracted to each other in a 1:1
ratio to form sodium chloride (NaCl).

Na + Cl → Na+ + Cl− → NaCl

 Representation of ionic bonding betweenlithium and fluorine to form lithium fluoride.
Lithium has a low ionization energy and readily gives up its lone valence electron to the
fluorine atom, which has a positive electron affinity and accepts the electron that was
donated by the lithium atom. The end result is that lithium
is isoelectronic withhelium and fluorine is isoelectronic with neon. Electrostatic
interaction between the two atoms forms an ionic bond.

The removal of electrons from the cation is endothermic, raising the system's overall
energy. There may also be energy changes associated with breaking of existing bonds or the
addition of more than one electron to form anions. However, the action of the anion
accepting the cation's valence electrons and the subsequent attraction of the ions to each
other releases energy and thus lowers the overall energy of the system.

Ionic bonding will occur only if the overall energy change for the reaction is favourable –
when the reaction is exothermic. The larger the resulting energy change, the stronger the
bond. The low electronegativity of metals and high electronegativity of non-metals means
that the reaction is most favourable between a metal and a non-metal.
Structure

Ionic compounds in the solid state form lattice structures. The two principal factors in
determining the form of the lattice are the relative charges of the ions and their relative
sizes. Some structures are adopted by a number of compounds; for example, the structure of
the rock salt sodium chloride is also adopted by many alkali halides, and binary oxides such
as MgO.

Ions of opposite charge strongly attract each other; those of like charges repel. As a result ions in
an ionic compound are arranged in a particular manner. (Remember that an ionic bond is a bond
in which one or more electrons from one atom are removed and attached to another atom,
resulting in positive and negative ions which attract each other).

To form an ionic compound, there needs to be at least one metal and one non-metal. The metal
element is usually the positive charge and the non-metal element is a negative charge. The
arrangements of these atoms results in a regular, repeating arrangement called a crystal lattice. A
crystal lattice gives the compound a great deal of stability. It also accounts for the high melting
point of crystals
7.Sodium chloride is an ionic compound that has a crystalline structure. Each sodium ion (Na+)
interacts with 6 chloride ions (Cl-) on each side of it, and each Cl- interacts with the 6 Na+ around
it. In a single salt crystal, there are millions and millions of ionic bonds. To melt an ionic
material, you have to break each of those ionic bonds. Ionic bonds are not that weak, and when
you try to break all of them it takes a lot of energy!
Ionic compounds are different than molecular ones in this way. To melt ice, for instance, you
don't have to break the bonds in water, you just have break the much weaker attractive forces
between two water molecules that are next to each other (called intermolecular forces). These
types of attractive forces are much easier to breaker than ionic bonds, and so most molecular
compounds have lower melting point than do ionic ones. Most ionic compounds have very very
high melting points in fact.