A bonding pair is a pair of electrons that is shared between two atoms and forms a covalent bond.
A bonding pair is a pair of electrons that is shared between two atoms and forms a covalent bond. Malay: pasangan berikat · Chinese: 成键电子对.
A covalent bond is made of one or more shared pairs of electrons, and each of these shared pairs is a bonding pair. The bonding pair is attracted to the nuclei of both atoms at once, and it is this shared attraction that holds the two atoms together. Every single bond contains one bonding pair, a double bond contains two, and a triple bond contains three. When you draw a dot-and-cross diagram, a bonding pair is shown in the region of overlap between the two atoms, made of one electron from each atom (or, in a dative bond, both from the same atom).
Example. In a hydrogen molecule, H2, there is one bonding pair shared between the two hydrogen atoms. In oxygen, O2, there are two bonding pairs between the atoms, making a double bond, while each oxygen atom also keeps two lone pairs. In methane, CH4, the carbon atom has four bonding pairs, one to each hydrogen, and no lone pairs.
Confusion to avoid. Do not confuse a bonding pair with a lone pair. A bonding pair is shared between two atoms and is a bond; a lone pair stays on one atom and is not a bond. In a diagram, count the bonding pairs to find how many bonds there are, and count the lone pairs separately.
The bonding pair is the electron unit that actually makes a covalent bond in this chapter, so recognising how many bonding pairs an atom needs is the key to a correct structure in SPM Chemistry.
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