Week 3 Molecular Structure and Bonding Quiz

Identify three elements with a single electron in their outer orbital.

1. The Hydrogen atom- the first element on the Periodic Table- only has one electron, which means it also only has one electron is its outer orbital, which is a 1s orbital.

2. The Helium atom has two electrons, which means that it has one electron in the 1s orbital and one electron in the outer 2s orbital.

3. The Lithium atom has three electrons, which means that it has one electron in the 1s orbital, one electron in the 2s orbital, and one electron in the outer 2p orbital.

Why do you think some chemical bonds are stronger than others?

Whether an ionic bond or a covalent bond is stronger is often dependent on the elements that form the molecular bond. Some elements bond more strongly than others. However, an ionic bond can at times be stronger than a covalent bond because in ionic bonds, electrons are traded, forming two ions- one with a positive charge and the other a negative charged- that are strongly attracted to each other. Covalent bonds merely share an electron and are tricked into thinking they have a full valence shell.

A polar bond is stronger than a non-polar bond because because electrons are shared unequally. The more electrognegative atom has a high electron affinity, pulling the shared electron and adjacent atom closer to it, creating a stronger bond.

In what ways do you think “Neptune’s Medicine’s Chest” might be useful in the future?

If it was discovered that there is a fungus or seaweed in the ocean, that say, cures cancer or fibromyalgia, and synchronistically- at the same time this fungus were to make a persuasive movement of macrobiotic enthusiasts flee to the Mediterranean shores to an ocean side healing center- one could potentially throw up the proverbial finger to the pharmaceutical companies once and for all and do yoga on the beach in shea butter organic sunscreen mixed with special compounds from the ocean that were terrific for your skin and happily munch on fish and seaweed salad drinking alcholol free margaritas, dancing in drum circles, farting cancer-free farts forever til the day they die, but not of cancer from nuclear fall-out.