Bond Length & Bond Strength
Bond energy
- The bond energy is the energy required to break one mole of a particular covalent bond in the gaseous states
- Bond energy has units of kJ mol-1
- The larger the bond energy, the stronger the covalent bond is
Bond length
- The bond length is internuclear distance of two covalently bonded atoms
- It is the distance from the nucleus of one atom to another atom which forms the covalent bond
- The greater the forces of attraction between electrons and nuclei, the more the atoms are pulled closer to each other
- This decreases the bond length of a molecule and increases the strength of the covalent bond
- Triple bonds are the shortest and strongest covalent bonds due to the large electron density between the nuclei of the two atoms
- This increase the forces of attraction between the electrons and nuclei of the atoms
- As a result of this, the atoms are pulled closer together causing a shorter bond length
- The increased forces of attraction also means that the covalent bond is stronger
Triple bonds are the shortest covalent bonds and therefore the strongest ones
