Confused about chemical bonding and how to tell which is which!?

Question

My professor likes to.. jump around while explaining things. So, myself and many of my classmates are absolutely lost right now. I really get some of it, but I'm confused on a couple of topics!

He said something about metals losing electrons to match the number of valance electrons of the nearest noble gas, and nonmetals gaining them to match.. uhh what?

I know ionic is a metal and a nonmetal bonding, and covalent is 2 nonmetals. When looking at a written compound, is it best to just have the periodic table in front of you to be able to tell?

The thing I'm most confused about is how to name them. Do you only use the di and tri (etc) prefixes when it's a certain type of bond? Do I only use the numeric superscripts when it's a polyatomic ion?

any help would be absolutely wonderful.. thanks!

Answer 1

Covalent = Sharing electrons.  Happens to non-metals - non-metal bonding.

Ionic = Electron is transfered to bond.  Metal - non-metal, etc.

You can also figure out which is ionic and covalent by doing that 1s^2 1s^3  c**p.

Yes, have a periodic table infront of you until you memorize them.

The thing your most confused on depends on bond, etc.

I could give you an hour lecture over all this stuff.

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