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Chemical Bonding Worksheet Key

If you are confused on any of the terminology/logic of the question, refer to the notes on
chemical bonding.

Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl):


Sodium has 1 valence electron. Chlorine has 7 valence electrons. Sodium will give up its 1
valence electron to chlorine, so that chlorine now has 7+1 = 8 valence electrons. Sodium and
chlorine are bonded in the process.

Lithium (Li) and Bromine (Br):


Lithium has 1 valence electron. Bromine has 7 valence electrons. Lithium will give up its 1
valence electron to Bromine. Bromine now has 7+1 = 8 valence electrons, and LiBr is formed in
the process.

Lithium (Li) and Sulfur (S):


This one is a bit trickier. Lithium has 1 valence electron and sulfur has 6 valence electrons. If Li
gave up its 1 valence electron to sulfur, sulfur would only have 6+1 = 7 valence electrons,
making it unstable. So, you would need 2 lithium atoms, with each one donating 1 valence
electron to sulfur. Sulfur would then have 7+1+1= 8 valence electrons, creating Li2S.

Potassium (K) and Nitrogen (N):


Also tricky. Potassium has 1 valence electron and nitrogen has only 5. You would need 3
potassium atoms to each give up its 1 valence electron to nitrogen, so that nitrogen has
5+1+1+1 = 8 valence electrons, forming K3 N.
Hydrogen (H) and Oxygen (O):
Hydrogen has 1 valence electron and oxygen has 6. But remember, hydrogen is unique in that it
only needs 2 valence electrons to be bonded, instead of the usual 8. If hydrogen and oxygen
shares 1 valence electron with each other, the hydrogen atom would have 2, filling its
requirement, but oxygen would have only 7. So, we need an additional hydrogen atom to also
share its valence electron with oxygen. Now oxygen will have 8 valence electrons and each
hydrogen atom will have 2. This forms H2O, more commonly known as water.

Hydrogen (H) and Chlorine (Cl):


Hydrogen has 1 valence electron; chlorine has 7. If they share 1 electron with each other,
hydrogen will have 2 valence electrons and chlorine will have 8, forming HCl.

Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O):


This one is a little different. Carbon has 4 valence electrons. Oxygen has 6. Each oxygen atom
must share TWO valence electrons with carbon so that carbon has 4+2+2 = 8 valence
electrons. At the same time, carbon must share 2 of its own valence electrons with each oxygen
atom, so that each oxygen has 6+2 = 8 valence electrons.

Sulfur (S) and Chlorine (Cl):


Sulfur has 6 valence electrons. Chlorine has 7. Sulfur can share one valence electron with
chlorine so that chlorine has 7+1 = 8 valence electrons. However, this wouldnt work because
then sulfur would only have 6+1 = 7 valence electrons. So, we would need another chlorine
atom to also share an electron with sulfur so that it has 6+1+1 = 8 valence electrons, forming
SCl2.

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