• A covalent bond is formed by the electrostatic attraction between a shared pair

of electrons and the positively charged nuclei.

• Single, double and triple covalent bonds involve one, two and three shared pairs of electrons respectively.

• Bond length decreases and bond strength increases as the number of shared electrons increases.

• Bond polarity results from the difference in electronegativities of the bonded atoms.

• Deduction of the polar nature of a covalent bond from electronegativity values.

• Bond polarity can be shown either with partial charges, dipoles or vectors.

• Electronegativity values are given in the data booklet in section 8.