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Determining H bonding


Ice-cream

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I need help with determining whether hydrogen bonding with form between two substances. I know hydrgoen bonding occurs between H and F, N or O but does that mean whenever one molecule has a N and one has a H, then they can bond together by H bonding? Surely it can't be that easy!

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Are you sure about HF being ionically bonded? I always thought that a compound that exists as a liquid or gas at room temperature was covalently bonded. I know that HCl is covalently bound, but easily ionizes in a water solution.

 

Okay. I did some further research and HF is definitely NOT ionic. It is a polar covalent bond, but assuredly not ionic. For a bond to be ionic, it generally must have an electronegativity difference of 2.0 or greater between the atoms. The difference between H and F is only 1.9 so it a strongly polar covalent bond.

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i was using linus pauling's definition and his electronegativities. according to pauling the electronegativity of fluorine is 3.98, and that of hydrogen is 2.20 which is a difference of 1.78. pauling said that a bond with an electronegativity difference greater than 1.7 is an ionic bond, thus making HF an ionic compound. of course, the terms "ionic bonding" and "electronegativity" are all subjective to one's opinion, so it's up to you

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