In what types of chemical bonds are electrons SHARED between elements?

• A. Ionic bonds
• B. Covalent bonds
• C. Hydrogen bonds
• D. Metallic bonds

Answer: (B)

Sharing electrons is the defining feature of covalent bonds. In these bonds, atoms achieve stability by sharing one or more pairs of electrons rather than transferring them. This allows each atom to fill its outer shell, often reaching an octet. The sharing can be equal, producing nonpolar covalent bonds (as in H–H or O=O), or unequal, producing polar covalent bonds (as in the H–O bonds in water).

Ionic bonds, by contrast, come from electron transfer, creating ions that attract each other. Metallic bonds involve a lattice of positively charged ions in a sea of delocalized electrons. Hydrogen bonds aren’t actual bonds formed by shared electrons; they’re weak attractions between a hydrogen attached to a highly electronegative atom and another electronegative atom, contributing to properties like water’s structure.