cccclaire said:
yay for the water stuff.
anyone explain covalent lattices?
Like I get covallent bonds, but with orbitals it really doesn't make sense to me how its all bonded together?
There are two main types of covalent bonds.
Covalent molecular are just covalently bonded atoms that form a molecule.
eg. Water, Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen gas
The individual molecules also have intermolecular attractions between them that bind them together. These intermolecular attractions are much weaker then the actual covalent bonds, or even ionic bonds for that matter. Intermolecular forces are gone into greater depth in the water topic.
This is why covalent molecular compounds generally have low melting and boiling points, because as the bonds between them are weaker, less energy is required to break them.
Covalent network are just continuously covalently bonded atoms that form lattices, and not molecules (think ionic bonds).
The actual covalent bonds are incredibly strong, that is why covalent networks, eg. Diamond, have very high melting points.
Look at some diagrams and such, it makes it easier