Molecular shapes and chemical bonding
The three dimensional shape of the molecules and the existence of different things around us is because of chemical bonding.
Click to watch video lesson
The atoms in molecules, crystals, metals, diatomic gases and most of the physical environment around us are held together by chemical bonds. Molecular shapes, the three‐dimensional arrangements of the atoms that constitute a molecule are determined by the nature of bonds between atoms in a molecule.
Molecular geometry determines several properties of a substance including its reactivity, polarity, phase of matter, color, magnetism, and biological activity and hence there is no topic more fundamental to chemistry than the nature of the chemical bond.
The molecular shapes define all the life processes right from the way a biological "cell" works, the way nerve impulses are communicated and the way immune system works. Genes function when certain nucleic acid molecules fit into specific regions of other nucleic acid.
Hydrogen bonding for example, plays an important role in determining the three‐dimensional structures adopted by proteins and nucleic bases. In these macro molecules, bonding between parts of the same macro molecule causes it to fold into a specific shape, which helps to determine the molecule's physiological or biochemical role.
The double helical structure of DNA, for example, is largely due to hydrogen bonding between the base pairs, which link one complementary strand to the other and enable replication.