How do atoms interact in ionic compounds and molecular compounds?
Molecular compounds are pure substances generally formed between nonmetallic atoms. In these substances, the atoms acheive stability through electron sharing. Since all nonmetallic atoms need to gain electrons to acheive stable octets in their valence shells (and none are willing to lose valence electrons) the only solution is to share valence electrons. A molecule is formed when two or more nonmetallic atoms share valence electrons. For example, in a molecule of oxygen (O2), each oxygen atoms shares two valence electrons with the other oxygen atom. In a molecule of nitrogen (N2), each nitrogen atom shares three electrons with each other. Each shared pair of electrons constitutes a covalent bond. Therefore, the oxygen molecule, has two shared pairs (a double bond) and the nitrogen molecule has three shared pairs (a triple bond). In the water molecule (H2O), each hydrogen atom shares one electron with the oxygen atom and the oxygen atom shares one electron with each hydrogen atom. The w
