Question #b25ef

1 Answer
David Drayer
May 5, 2017

The answer depends on what other element chlorine is bonding with.

Explanation:

If Chlorine is bonding with sodium it has no covalent bonds. The bond formed is an ionic bond. This is true of the bonds Chlorine forms with most positive elements.

If Chlorine is bonding with Oxygen it can form a single covalent bond

#ClO^-1# Hypochlorous ion

or one double bond and one single covalent bond

#ClO_2^-1# chlorous ion

or two double bonds and one single covalent bond

# ClO_3^-1 # Chlorate ion

or three double bonds and one single covalent bond

# ClO_4^-1 # hyper chlorate ion.

Because Chlorine has 7 valance electrons it can lose from 1 to seven to form bonds with Oxygen and other elements with greater electron negativity, creating up to 3 double bonds. Chlorine can also gain electrons from elements with a lower electron negativity.

Related questions
See all questions in Covalent Bonding
Impact of this question
1601 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License