Ionic versus Covalent Bonds
Ionic and covalent bonding are two extreme models of the chemical bond. Most
actual bonds lie somewhere between purely ionic and purely covalent. To describe
bonds between nonmetals, covalent bonding is a good model. When a metal and
nonmetal are present in a simple compound, ionic bonding is a good model. However,
the bonds in many compounds seem to have properties between the two
extreme models of bonding. Can these bonds be described more accurately by
improving the two basic models?