What is stronger an ionic bond or covalent?

Answer 1

Covalent bonds are stronger because the shared electron is what keeps the elements held together whereas in an ionic bond one element loses an electron to another causing one element to become positively charged and the other to become negatively charged such as in the case of NaCl or table salt. Some people argue as to which is truly stronger considering different elements and arrangements may have different strength bonds but anything with an ionic bond will dissolve in water however covalent bonds do not. The previous answer that i have replaced also talked about electronegativity which has nothing to do with which bond is stronger and actually is the factor that determines whether a covalent bond is polar or non-polar.

Answer 2

They're about the same. There is a huge overlap in the ranges of strengths of ionic and covalent bonds, so determining which one is "stronger" in general is a dodgy exercise.

The trouble with the comparison is that different chemicals are used for each different bond, so of course there are cases where a covalent bond is stronger than an ionic one, and other cases where the reverse is true. The bond energies all fall in the same range, so unlike the different types of intermolecular forces, there is no clear distinction between these bond strengths.

Further complicating the issue is the fact that the vast majority of bonds have both some ionic and some covalent character, making the notions of "ionic bond" vs. "covalent bond" vague. Worse yet, the notion of "bond strength" can be somewhat ill-defined, especially for ionic bonds: there are many different ways to break bonds, and some favor ionic bonds while others favor covalents.

Trying to make a distinction is a bit like flipping a coin 5 times to see which side is heavier: you're guaranteed to get conflicting answers. Despite the ambiguity, some AP tests still pose this very question, and expect a multiple-choice answer. In such a case, you're probably best off saying that covalent bonds are stronger than ionic bonds, since those sources seem to consider this the correct answer.

Answer 3

Chemically speaking, an ionic bond is stronger than a covalent bond, except when you get into Biology and all bonds are in solution. Then covalent bonds are considered stronger as ionic bonds disassociate in solution.

Answer 4

yes polar bonds are always stronger than non polar bonds.

Answer 5

yes, polar covalent are stronger than no-polar covalent

Answer 6

In almost all cases, ionic bonds are stronger than covalent bonds. Although there are exceptions such as diamond and graphite.

Answer 7

No, covalent is stronger