Q: What's the simplest atom?
A: H, hydrogen
Q: What's the simplest molecule (combination of atoms)?
A: H2, just 2 of the simplest atoms sticking to each other.
Make a model by taking a (1/2-length) toothpick and using it to attach 2 small blue styrofoam balls together. According to the Periodic Table, H forms just one bond (represented by the single toothpick). |  |
Now for a slight complication: O can form 2 bonds, so how do 2 O's join together? Like 2 people holding each other with both hands, each O holds the other with both bonds. In the picture to the right, each pipecleaner is one bond; 2 bonds between the same 2 atoms is a "double bond", and pipecleaners are good for representing them because they can bend.
Try a hands-on activity to practice these ideas and see them in action! |  |
A slightly more complicated example: C has 4 bonds, O has 2; so one C can double bond to 2 O's (picture to right), making CO2, or "carbon dioxide" ("di" means "2", for the 2 O's in the molecule).
Note that these 3 molecules are straight lines. Other molecules, even H2O, are more complicated...
  Next
|  |