Question

What is covalency?

Answer 1

• Covalency occurs when an element shares electrons with other atoms of the same or different elements to achieve a stable chemical state.
• The covalency of an atom is equal to one if it shares one electron.
• Its covalency is two if it can share two electrons.

Examples

• Fluorine's Covalency: Fluorine possesses seven valence electrons. It can share one electron with another atom of $\mathrm{F}$ to produce ${\mathrm{F}}_2$, or it can share one electron as the atomic number of fluorine is 9 so it have only one valence electron which shares with another atom $\mathrm{H}$ to complete its octet to form $\mathrm{HF}$, hence its covalency is 1.
• Nitrogen's Covalency: Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons. To complete its octet, it requires three electrons. It can share three valence electrons with the nitrogen atom to form${\mathrm{N}}_2$, resulting in a stable electrical state. Nitrogen has a covalency of 3.