The percentage ionic character of a covalent bond increases as
- A. the two atoms become more similar
- B. the electronegativity difference between the two atoms increases
- C. the bond becomes shorter
- D. the temperature rises
Explanation
The greater the electronegativity difference, the more unequally the pair is shared, until at a difference of roughly 1.7 the bond is regarded as more ionic than covalent. Hydrogen fluoride is highly polar for this reason while hydrogen iodide is nearly non polar. This makes the covalent and ionic extremes two ends of a continuous scale rather than separate categories.