Editing Molecule (section)

=== Ionic ===
{{main|Ionic bonding}} [[File:NaF.gif|thumb|left|[[Sodium]] and [[fluorine]] undergoing a redox reaction to form [[sodium fluoride]]. Sodium loses its outer [[electron]] to give it a stable [[electron configuration]], and this electron enters the fluorine atom [[exothermic]]ally.]]

Ionic bonding is a type of chemical bond that involves the [[electrostatic]] attraction between oppositely charged ions, and is the primary interaction occurring in [[ionic compound]]s. The ions are atoms that have lost one or more [[electron]]s (termed [[cation]]s) and atoms that have gained one or more electrons (termed [[anion]]s).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VdROgeQ5M8C&q=ionic+bonding+-wikipedia&pg=PA7|title=Elements of Metallurgy and Engineering Alloys|last=Campbell|first=Flake C.|year=2008|publisher=[[ASM International]]|isbn=978-1-61503-058-3|language=en|access-date=27 October 2020|archive-date=31 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331062041/https://books.google.com/books?id=6VdROgeQ5M8C&q=ionic+bonding+-wikipedia&pg=PA7|url-status=live}}</ref> This transfer of electrons is termed ''electrovalence'' in contrast to [[covalent bond|covalence]]. In the simplest case, the cation is a [[metal]] atom and the anion is a [[Nonmetal (chemistry)|nonmetal]] atom, but these ions can be of a more complicated nature, e.g. molecular ions like NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> or SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2−</sup>. At normal temperatures and pressures, ionic bonding mostly creates solids (or occasionally liquids) without separate identifiable molecules, but the vaporization/sublimation of such materials does produce separate molecules where electrons are still transferred fully enough for the bonds to be considered ionic rather than covalent.
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