Bond forces versus electron pairs – two concepts for chemical bonding

Abstract

In chemistry there are two equivalent ways of describing chemical bonding between atoms in a molecule: On the one hand there are bond forces and on the other hand there are electron pairs. In order to introduce chemical bonding already in early chemistry class without having to relate to the nucleus-shell model of atoms, standard bonding abilities can be defined – e.g. four bonds in case of the C atom within a CH₄ molecule or two bonds in case of the O atom within a H₂O molecule. Accordingly, proposals for Chemistry education are discussed and ways of instruction compared.