Chemical bonding was first described by a German physicist, Walther Kossel, in his paper published in April 1916. Just one month later, American chemist Gilbert Lewis published his paper on the same topic.
Kossel focused his paper on what we now call ionic bonding. He had worked with Sommerfeld on electron orbits and argued that only electrons in the outermost shell of atoms could escape the atom. Once the electron left the atom, the atom had a net positive charge. This positive atom would then be attracted to an atom with a negative charge. The two atoms would form an ionic bond.
Lewis concentrated his paper on covalent bonds. For example, carbon has four electrons in its outer shell. Instead of giving up four electrons, carbon shares its electrons with other atoms to fill its outer shell. Lewis even developed the Lewis dot structure to show how atoms could share electrons. In 1939, Linus Pauling, an American chemist, clarified Kossel’s and Lewis’s ideas in his book, The Nature of the Chemical Bond.
Want a printable version of this reading passage with comprehension questions? You can get it at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Want to learn more about the history of chemistry? You can get to the History of Chemistry homepage by clicking on the image below.
Related Posts
