Question

What is the easiest chemical bond to break?

Answer 1

Chemical bond:

1. A chemical bond is a force that binds atoms, ions, etc. together in different chemical species.
2. The energy required to break a bond is known as bond enthalpy.

Easily breakable bond: There are two ways to break the bond:

On the basis of multiple bonds:

1. Bond length reduces as bond strength increases, hence single bonds break more quickly than double and triple bonds. Triple bond has stronger bond strength and shorter bond lengths than single and double bonds.
2. Among all three bonds, the single bond has low bond dissociation energy.
3. A single bond is referred to as a sigma bond. A double bond is made up of one sigma and one pi bond. One of the bonds in triple bonds is sigma, and the other two are pi bonds.
4. Therefore, carbon-carbon triple bonds are the strongest, followed by double and single bonds.

On the basis of average bond enthalpy:

1. The hydrogen bond is the weakest bond among the covalent, ionic, and metallic bonds.
2. A hydrogen bond occurs as a weak attraction between the molecules because it depends on a temporary imbalance in electron distribution.