There are three types of bonding studied at GCSE:

• Ionic bonding
• Covalent bonding
• Metallic bonding

Ionic bonding

Ionic bonding occurs in compounds that contain a metal (usually a Group 1 or 2 elements) with a non-metal (usually a Group 6 or 7 element). They bond to form metal compounds.

When forming an ionic compound:

• electrons are transferred from the metal atom to the non-metal atom.
• this forms oppositely-charged ions.
• the metal ion has a positive charge.
• the non-metal ion has a negative charge.
• an ionic bond is the attraction between these oppositely-charged ions.
• ionic bonding is strong and requires substantial amounts of energy to break.