Sydney Student is trying to memorize chemical structures of every compound his professor has indicated are important to the human body. Explain to him that an easier way is to memorize a few rules of chemical bonding and then figure out the structure of the important compounds, especially the simpler compounds.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Elements combine to form molecules in predictable ways because of how the outer shell electrons combine between
atoms. In most cases, the outer shell will be most stable with a total of eight electrons. This information is easily discernible from the periodic table. Therefore an atom with seven outer shell electrons, such as K, combines very readily with an atom with one outer shell electron, such as Cl; an atom with six outer shell electrons, such as Ca will combine with an atom with two outer shell electrons or with two atoms with one outer shell electron each, and so on. Examples: KCl, CaCl2, CH4.