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How Atoms Reach Stability
Incomplete octet
Valence shell has fewer than 8 electrons
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Share or transfer
Atoms share electrons (covalent) or transfer them (ionic)
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Chemical bond
A bond forms and the system energy drops
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Stable molecule or ionic compound
- Law of Conservation of Mass
- Mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.
- Law of Definite Proportions
- A compound always contains the same elements in a fixed ratio by mass.
- Molecule
- A neutral group of two or more atoms that can exist independently.
- Chemical bond
- The force that holds atoms together after they combine to become stable.
- Covalent bond
- Formed by the sharing of electrons between atoms.
- Ionic bond
- Formed by the transfer of electrons, giving cations and anions that attract.
- Chemical formula (covalent)
- Shows the elements and the number of atoms of each in a molecule.
- Chemical formula (ionic)
- Shows the simplest whole-number ratio of atoms of the elements.
- Molecular mass
- The total mass of a molecule = sum of the atomic masses of its atoms.
- Formula unit mass
- The sum of the atomic masses of all atoms in one formula unit of an ionic compound.
