BONGA UNIVERSITY

College Of Engineering And Technology

Department Of Mechanical Engineering

Engineering Material
(MEng2091)
CHAPTER 2
Atomic Structure and Bonding

By: Mulisa Jiregna 1

 Atomic Structure
  Each atom consists of a very small nucleus composed of
protons and neutrons, which is encircled by moving electrons.
 Both electrons and protons are electrically charged, the charge
magnitude being 1.6010-19 C which is negative in sign for
electrons and positive for protons; neutrons are electrically
neutral.
 Each chemical element is characterized by the number of
protons in the nucleus, or the atomic number (Z).
 For an electrically neutral or complete atom, the atomic
number also equals the number of electrons
 Atomic mass (A) = proton mass + neutron mass.
 Isotopes are the same element having different atomic masses.
Number of protons in isotopes remains same while number of
neutrons varies.
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 Atomic mass unit (amu) = 1/12 mass of Carbon 12 (12C)
 1 mol of substance contains 6.023 x 1023(Avogadro’s number)
atoms or molecules.
 The atomic weight of an element or the molecular weight of a
compound may be specified on the basis of amu per atom
(molecule) or mass per mole of material.
Atomic weight = 1 amu/atom (or molecule) = 1 g/mol
 For example, atomic weight of copper is 63.54 amu/atom or
63.54 g/mole.

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 Atomic Bonding in Solids
Bonding Forces And Energies
 Atoms binds together by Interatomic forces.
 To illustrate principle of atomic bonding consider the interaction
between two isolated atoms as they are brought into close
proximity from an infinite separation.
 At large distances, the interactions are negligible, but as the
atoms approach, each exerts forces on the other. When two
neutral atoms are brought close to each other, they experience
attractive and or repulsive force and the magnitude of each is a
function of the separation or interatomic distance.
 Attractive force is due to electrostatic attraction between
electrons of one atom and the nucleus of the other.
 Repulsive force arises due to repulsion between electrons and
nuclei of the atoms.
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 The origin of an attractive force FA depends on the particular
type of bonding that exists between the two atoms. The
magnitude of the attractive force varies with the distance.
 Ultimately, the outer electron shells of the two atoms begin to
overlap, and a strong repulsive force FR comes into play.
 The net force FN between the two atoms is just the sum of both
attractive and repulsive components; that is,
FN = FA + FR…………………..2.1
 The distance, at which the attraction and repulsion forces are
equal and the net force is zero, is the equilibrium interatomic
distance, ro. The atoms have lowest energy at this position.
 When FA and FR balance, or become equal, there is no net force;
that is,
FA + FR=0…………………2.2
 For many atoms, ro is approximately 0.3 nm. 5
 Sometimes it is more convenient to work with the potential
energies between two atoms instead of forces. Mathematically,
energy (E) and force (F) are related as

or, for atomic systems

………………………..2.3
Where EN, EA, and ER are respectively the net, attractive, and
repulsive energies for two isolated and adjacent atoms.
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Figure 2.1
(a) The dependence of
repulsive, attractive, and
net forces on interatomic
separation for two isolated
atoms. (b) The dependence
of repulsive, attractive, and
net potential energies on
interatomic separation for
two isolated atoms.

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 The bonding energy(E0) for these two atoms, represents
the energy that would be required to separate these two
atoms to an infinite separation.
 The magnitude of bonding energy and the shape of the energy-
versus interatomic separation curve vary from material to
material, and they both depend on the type of atomic bonding.
 Furthermore, a number of material properties depend on E0, the
curve shape, and bonding type.
 For example, materials having large bonding energies typically
also have high melting temperatures.
 At room temperature, solid substances are formed for large
bonding energies, whereas for small energies the gaseous state
is favoured; liquids prevail when the energies are of
intermediate magnitude.
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 Force in Equation 2.3 may also be expressed as

………………………..2.4

 Likewise, the force equivalent of Equation 2.3 is as follows:

………………………..2.5

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 Atoms are bond to each other by number of bonds. These inter-
atomic bonds are primarily of two kinds:
1. Primary bonds and
2. Secondary bonds.
 Ionic, Covalent and Metallic bonds are relatively very strong,
and grouped as primary bonds, whereas van der Waals and
hydrogen bonds are relatively weak, and termed as secondary
bonds.
 Metals and Ceramics are entirely held together by primary
bonds - the ionic and covalent bonds in ceramics, and the
metallic and covalent bonds in metals.
 Although much weaker than primary bonds, secondary bonds
are still very important. They provide the links between
polymer molecules in polyethylene (and other polymers) which
make them solids.
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 Primary Interatomic Bonds

1. Ionic Bonding:
 This bond exists between two atoms when one of the atoms
is negative (has an extra electron) and another is positive
(has lost an electron).
 It is always found in compounds that are composed of both
metallic and non-metallic elements.
 Atoms of a metallic element easily give up their valence
electrons to the non-metallic atoms.
 Ionic materials are characteristically hard and brittle and,
furthermore, electrically and thermally insulative.

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Figure 2.2 Schematic representation of ionic bonding in sodium
chloride (NaCl).
 The attractive bonding forces are coulombic; that is positive
and negative ions, by virtue of their net electrical charge,
attract one another. For two isolated ions, the attractive energy
EA is a function of the interatomic distance:

…………………..2.6
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 Theoretically, the constant A is equal to
1
A ( Z1e)( Z 2 e) ………………..2.7
4 0
 where(0 ) permittivity of a vacuum(8.8510-12 F/m), Z1 and Z2
are the valences of the two ion types, and e is the electronic
charge(1.60210-19)
 An analogous equation for the repulsive energy is
………………………..2.8

 In these expressions, A, B, and n are constants whose values

depend on the particular ionic system. The value of ‘n’ is
approximately 8.
 the value of A is normally determined from experimental data
rather than computed using equation 2.7
 In Equation 2.8, the value of the constant B is also fit using
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experimental data.
 Ionic bonding is termed non-directional; that is, the magnitude
of the bond is equal in all directions around an ion.
 It follows that for ionic materials to be stable, all positive ions
must have as nearest neighbours negatively charged ions in a
three dimensional scheme, and vice versa.
 The predominant bonding in ceramic materials is ionic.

Example
The atomic radii of K+ and Br− ions are 0.138 and 0.196 nm,
respectively.
a) calculate the force of attraction between these two ions at their
equilibrium interionic separation (i.e., when the ions just touch
one another).
b) What is the force of repulsion at this same separation
distance?
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Solution
(a) the force of attraction between two ions is
Whereas

1
FA  ( Z1e)( Z 2 e)
4 0 r 2

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For this problem, r is taken as the interionic separation ro for KBr,
which is equal to the sum of the K+ and Br− ionic radii inasmuch
as the ions touch one another.

taking ion 1 to be K+ and ion 2 as Br− (i.e., Z1 = +1 and Z2 = −1),

then the force of attraction is equal to

(b) A t the equilibrium separation distance the sum of attractive and

repulsive forces is zero. This means
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2. Covalent Bonding
 It is found in materials whose atoms have small differences in
electronegativity, that lie near one another in the periodic table.
 Stable electron configurations are assumed by the sharing of
electrons between adjacent atoms.
 Two atoms that are covalently bonded will each contribute at
least one electron to the bond, and the shared electrons may be
considered to belong to both atoms.
 There is an overlapping of electron orbitals in the region
between the two bonding atoms.
 The covalent bond is directional—that is, it is between specific
atoms and may exist only in the direction between one atom
and another that participates in the electron sharing.

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 Many non-metallic elemental molecules(H2, Cl2, F2, etc.) as
well as molecules containing dissimilar atoms, such as CH 4,
H2O, HNO3and HF, are covalently bonded.
 It is possible to have interatomic bonds that are partially ionic
and partially covalent, and in fact, very few compounds exhibit
pure ionic or covalent bonding.

Figure 2.3 Schematic representation of covalent bonding in a

molecule of methane(CH4)
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3. Metallic Bond

 In metals the valence electrons are not really bound to one

particular atom(it is delocalized), instead they form a sea
or cloud of valence electrons which are shared by all the
atoms. The remaining electrons and the nuclei form what
is called the ion core which is positively charged.
 The metallic bond arises out of the columbic attraction
between these two oppositely charged species –the
electron cloud and the ion cores.
 The metallic bond is non-directional in character.
 Metals are good conductors of both electricity and heat as
a consequence of their free electrons

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Figure 2.4 Schematic illustration of metallic
bonding.

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 Secondary Bonding or Van Der Waals Bonding
 Secondary or physical bonds are weak in comparison to the
primary or chemical ones.
 This bonding exists between virtually all atoms or molecules
but its presence may be obscured if any of the three primary
bonding types is present.
 It is evidenced for the inert gases, which have stable electron
structures, and, in addition, between molecules in molecular
structures that are covalently bonded.
 The natural oscillation of atoms leading to momentary break
down of charge symmetry can generate temporary dipoles

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 The bonding results from the columbic attraction between the
positive end of one dipole and the negative region of an
adjacent one.
 Dipole interactions occur between induced dipoles, between
induced dipoles and polar molecules (which have permanent
dipoles), and between polar molecules.
Hydrogen bonding,
 It is special type of secondary bonding, is found to exist
between some molecules that have hydrogen as one of the
constituents.
 The bond originates from electrostatic interaction between
hydrogen and another atom of high electronegativity such as
fluorine or oxygen.
 Water molecules, for example, are connected by hydrogen
bonds (dashed lines in the picture).
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Figure 2.5 Schematic illustration of hydrogen bonding in water
molecules.

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1. Fluctuating Induced Dipole Bonds
 A dipole may be created or induced in an atom or molecule that
is normally electrically symmetric; that is, the overall spatial
distribution of the electrons is symmetric with respect to the
positively charged nucleus.
 All atoms are experiencing constant vibrational motion that can
cause instantaneous and short-lived distortions of this electrical
symmetry for some of the atoms or molecules, and the creation
of small electric dipoles.
 One of these dipoles can in turn produce a displacement of
the electron distribution of an adjacent molecule or atom,
which induces the second one also to become a dipole that is
then weakly attracted or bonded to the first.
 These attractive forces may exist between large numbers of
atoms or molecules, which forces are temporary and
fluctuate with time. 24
 The liquefaction and, in some cases, the solidification of the
inert gases and other electrically neutral and symmetric
molecules such as H2 and Cl2 are realized because of this type
of bonding.
 Melting and boiling temperatures are extremely low in
materials for which induced dipole bonding predominates.

Figure 2.6 Schematic representations of (a) an electrically

symmetric atom and (b) an induced atomic dipole. 25
2. Polar Molecule-Induced Dipole Bonds
 Some molecules like HCl have permanent dipoles due to
asymmetrical arrangement of +ve and –ve charges. such
molecules are termed polar molecules.
 Polar molecules can also induce dipoles in adjacent nonpolar
molecules, and a bond will form as a result of attractive forces
between the two molecules.
 The magnitude of this bond will be greater than for fluctuating
induced dipoles

Figure 2.7 Schematic

representation of a polar
hydrogen chloride (HCl)
molecule.
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3. Permanent Dipole Bonds
 Van der Waals forces will also exist between adjacent polar
molecules.
 The strongest secondary bonding type, the hydrogen bond, is a
special case of polar molecule bonding. It occurs between
molecules in which hydrogen is covalently bonded.
 share single electron with other atom essentially resulting in
positively charged proton that is not shielded any electrons.
 This highly positively charged end of the molecule is
capable of strong attractive force with the negative end of an
adjacent molecule.
 The magnitude of the hydrogen bond is generally greater than
that of the other types of secondary bonds.

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Figure 2.8 Schematic representation of hydrogen bonding in hydrogen
fluoride (HF).

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THANK YOU!

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