Lewis Dot Structures & Ionic Bonding Basics
When metals and nonmetals come together, they form ionic bonds through electron transfer. Metals always act as electron donors, giving away their valence electrons to achieve stability. Nonmetals act as electron acceptors, taking those electrons to fill their outer shells.
Let's look at sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) as an example. Sodium, a metal, has one valence electron that it wants to lose. Chlorine, a nonmetal, has seven valence electrons and needs one more to complete its octet. When they interact, sodium donates its electron to chlorine, forming Na+ and Cl- ions that attract each other.
Another example is sodium and oxygen. Oxygen needs two electrons to complete its octet, but each sodium can only donate one electron. Therefore, two sodium atoms must bond with one oxygen atom to form Na₂O. This illustrates an important concept: the formula must balance the total charge.
Remember This: In chemical formulas for ionic compounds, the metal always comes first! This is why we write NaCl and Na₂O, not ClNa or ONa₂.
