Why Do Atoms Bond?

SciShow explains what makes atoms bond (and what makes them sometimes seem promiscuous).
Hosted by: Michael Aranda
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Sources:

[@TheyCallMeGawd]

Physics jokes are as bad as chemistry jokes: What do you do with a sick chemist? If you can't helium and you can't curium then you might as well barium.

[@Khalaxe]

two chemists walk into a bar, one says to the barman il have some H2O please, the second says il have some H2O too please, the second scientist dies. Chemistry joke are fairly horrendous.

[@multipletigers]

heimerdinger pls

[@woobmonkey]

Little Johnny took a drink, and now he'll drink no more; For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4!

[@Khalaxe]

Silver walks up to Gold in a bar and says, "AU, get outta here!"

[@IceMetalPunk]

Two atoms are hanging out when one says, "Oh, no, I lost an electron!" "Are you sure?" the other asks. "I'm positive!"

[@Methos1338]

"Hello, my name is bond... ionic bond. Taken, not shared."

[@Jimmymonicajaneselvigthorloki]

Omgggg

[@RDKCREATIONS]

Genius 🧠

[@ctrllux4486]

ALL OF THESE COMMENTS ARE 5 YEARS OLD LMFAO IM HERE DOING ONLINE SCHOOL IN 2020

[@priscillaappouh995]

lol same, im jus trying to do my work and go

[@ctrllux4486]

@@priscillaappouh995 yeah like im looking for some answers

[@professormistreddevil8091]

same goes here (｡’▽’｡)♡

[@Dahxelb]

This question deserves a much longer and much deeper explaining video.

[@mrsflemingg4lifee]

😂 right!

[@SD-tj5dh]

Teachers only really care as a majority about churning you through exams to get high grades so they'll just tell you what us necessary. Only a couple of teachers in my school were passionate about what they taught, which were the ones I succeeded in. I didn't get passionate about the sciences and history until I finished school and watched a lot of documentaries. Then you tube came along with channels like this one now I can be surrounded by knowledge I've always wanted to know about.

[@benaaronmusic]

What did one ion say to the other? . . . "I've got my ion you." O - what a gas! From your favorite musician, -Ben Aaron

[@geniusmp2001]

For more detail, see Crash Course Chemistry.

[@SciShow]

Yeah! kzbin.info/aero/PL8dPuuaLjXtPHzzYuWy6fYEaX9mQQ8oGr

[@OphiucusIncendia]

SciShow Don't atoms bond to get to a lower energy level too.

[@glenwllms]

OphiucusIncendia Most of the time it's to fill their electron shells.

[@wendydavidson1589]

Glen Williams filling electron shells results in a lower energy state, so you're both right

[@strawberryiesful]

Crash Course is so amazing that my biology and World History teachers show it sometimes. It's great and so helpful.

[@thefoulglory]

Very well explained. Simple, yet hitting the right points.

[@joshpalmer3155]

1:13 I had to replay that like 8 times

[@Akshat_sharma111]

"Hey, I mean, this just happens sometimes. No need to feel bad for the first atom."

[@wolfboyft]

ikr cringe

[@flyingspacebrainedidiot]

theyre actually kinda into it 😳🥵

[@WhoooLovesOrangeSoda]

Working on way to turn graphite into graphene with a high school education. Wish me luck.

[@WhoooLovesOrangeSoda]

***** I believe it was scotch tape but I might be wrong. But they had an electron microscope to assist. Not exactly something I can pick up at Harbor Freight Lol

[@Zerepzerreitug]

WhoooLovesOrangeSoda so how will you know you effectively made graphene then?

[@WhoooLovesOrangeSoda]

Arturo Gutierrez Testing it. Its strength will show. I read that it would take an elephant balanced on a pencil to break through it. I have a nice sharp dagger to test with. From there Im sure I can take it to a professional lab for confirmation.

[@Zerepzerreitug]

WhoooLovesOrangeSoda I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly confident that the elephant thing works only when you have a substantial amount of graphene molded into a weight-bearing structure. I don't think it applies to a single atom-sized layer of graphene. Because if it did, if the graphene sheet in scotch tape was able to lift an elefant, we would have seen some pretty _awesome_ youtube videos from the researchers who first made it.

[@WhoooLovesOrangeSoda]

Arturo Gutierrez I see your point and im going to have to look more into how they got to that point but thats the fun. just trying different things. I should replicate the scotch tape graphene first so I know what im looking for. The goal is to find a faster and easier, more practical way to do it.

[@Bloodmuffin6]

One of your best videos, short and sweet explanation of a question many people don't understand

[@allluckyseven]

Damn. I wish they had explained it to me this way when I first saw it in school. Thanks, SciShow.

[@AQWoy]

This video answers HOW not WHY

[@chimkinNuggz]

How and why are the same thing in this case

[@ExperimentLife]

you wanna know why? becuz Gaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwd! there. . . .

[@General12th]

You're right. WHY positives and negatives attract is a different question entirely. The video could have delved incredibly deeply into the physical nature of the Universe and the anthropic principle. But then the video wouldn't have really answered any questions and instead asked a bunch of new ones. At some point, you might as well go "because God said so" and be done with it. Asking WHY something happens leads to finding out HOW something happens, but then WHY does that thing happen? And so on.

[@callmemesh]

Because of stability. Atoms wants to be stable, which they are not. (This is reason to why they bond. Why they want to is over my head. K.)

[@IceMetalPunk]

Jaffaftw dom Some are stable (the noble elements, particularly). But yeah, the reasons most aren't come from the wave equations in quantum mechanics...

[@KelwynAyla]

Thank you so much for this explanation! I didn't really understand electron shells until just now.

[@ThePrimaryAxiom]

You know how hard it is and how much work it takes to do a show like this

[@nolanthiessen1073]

This video brought to you by science.

[@JeffOf813]

I like how he made the attraction puns, while he has a hicky on his neck. Lol

[@EddieSpeck]

it is sarcastic pun of course :P

[@yomi001]

It's not a hicky, it's a huge zit. lol

[@lesleyghostdragon3149]

Lol - love that SciShow always seems able to interject humor into even the most intense subjects I hope you do a more extended update to this video some day. Maybe on Valentine's Day 😍🤓😍

[@philophos]

This was explained SO SMOOTHLY, wow.

[@philophos]

P.S. I feel sorry for whoever at SciShow has the depressing job of having to go through the comments and read people going, "Hur hur, this is so basic!! People [they usually say Americans] are dumb!!" all day. There's no problem with smoothly explaining 'basic' scientific concepts, and there's no shame in not being familiar with them.

[@Coppertunes]

The love bite on your neck, was that Hank ?

[@vaibhavgupta20]

First time I got a video early. . . . . .yeh

[@SciShow]

Thanks for being a Subbable Subscriber!

[@lukeusername]

Saving America From Inflammatory Liberal Propaganda Ah crap, it's you. You might have your subscriptions hidden but I know you're regular subscribed to SciShow just to make comments like this.

[@vaibhavgupta20]

SciShow just keep on making these vids like this.

[@origamikatakana]

Great explanation.

[@addarkphoenix]

Thanks, learning about electro negativity in chemistry ATM and this helped :)

[@acediadekay3793]

What should I hear first, the good news or the bad ?

[@xenomann442]

LOL. I don't know if Scishow is capable of answering this deeply mysterious question. Supposedly Einstein started out trying to answer this question, but after 9 months of utter frustration, decided to tackle much more simple minded problems like the photoelectric effect and mass-energy equivalence.

[@SirNeutral]

Maybe if you hear the _bad_ news in a _good_ way, it won't sound so bad.

[@IWantASnack]

I'm really surprised to see the level of entitlement in the comment section, especially on an educational video. Really, people? Who.. mocks someone for not knowing something? I could have sworn that this is the exact point of this channel, to spread information. I'm not sure if a lot of you are aware of this, but you don't ACTUALLY have to watch every video on the internet, right? Just making sure, because a lot of you are acting like it was absolutely impossible to not watch this video with all this complaining about redundancy. If you already know the material, fantastic for you, watch another video and let the people who didn't have this information educate themselves. This is why we can't have nice things, jeez.

[@EzAzAbc]

2 science videos in one day :D you've increased my happiness 10 fold!

[@alexanderharaldh4831]

Merry Christmas!!

[@GodofReapers]

I know this is pedantic, but since this is SciShow I think it's worth mentioning that the only thing that makes everything is energy. Statistically speaking, virtual particles in vacuums come way closer to making up everything than atoms do.

[@dariuso2657]

Come on, it's like saying that for example iron bar isn't made of iron just because the iron atoms are made up of smaller particles, and they are made from energy (?) and are held together by something else and etc.

[@TheErudite21]

Chase that thought... I *strongly* suspect the _real_ Theory of Everything has to do with pure 'energy' being the omnipresent building blocks of life...

[@Monochromicornicopia]

Statistically speaking, dark energy and dark matter come waaaay closer to making up everything than baryonic matter (atoms).

[@starrecipe9]

I don't know if it's that simple. I don't know physics that well, but my understanding is that energy doesn't exist on its own just like mass doesn't exist on its own. You wouldn't say that something is made out of mass, but that it has mass. You wouldn't say that something is made out of energy, but that it has energy. My understanding is that the modern view is that everything is made of fields, and you can measure the energy of a field. As for pure energy, I don't believe there is any such thing in modern physics, just as there is no such thing as pure length. I agree that atoms don't make up everything though. Electromagnetic radiation is the most apparent example of that. If anyone knows a lot of physics then maybe they could provide their insights.

[@DudeWhoSaysDeez]

why do atoms bond? cuz their lonely

[@Niker107]

I just burst out in laughter after that smile at the end. I just had to add this to my favourites just because of that.

[@SawyerKnight]

Good timing. I was literally just thinking about this last night.

[@Jessie-ke8hr]

but why do i have hair around my atoms

[@Confuzledish]

I just don't understand "positive and negative forces." How do you classify one as positive and another as negative? What makes them that way, and why are they exactly drawn to one another? I mean, it's great to know the different kinds of bonds but it doesn't explain the exact reasons as to why it happens.

[@Dodohunter15]

Now your getting into elementary particles there, complex shit I i don't think any one understands

[@TheErudite21]

Exactly... its complex because no one understands it yet lol. You should work on a simple explanation. Despite Einstein being a genius; he was mentally disabled, a high school dropout, and was basically working a minimum wage job when he came up with the first of his famous though experiment that led to the Theory of Relativity. So go! Go come up with a theory explaining _why_ these forces work the way they do! The world needs more everyday people to explain 'complex' ideas in simple terms...

[@YourFavoriteTroll]

Erudite it depends on how much empty space the particles are producing giving them a negative or positive charges relative to one another.

[@OfficialEnman]

Positive and negative are names, and have no further meaning. The question as to why they are drawn to each other is philosophical, and is up to you to decide. Like for instance, I know gravity pulls me down, so that I'm confined to the surface of the earth. I still have clue as to why this is. All I can do is describe what I observe. The behavior of me being confined can be described by Newtons Laws of motion which can also predict the future given initial conditions, so that must be a valid description of what is going on. In the same sense physicists discovered a description of the behavior of atoms which is called quantum physics. Quantum physics describes observation and predict futures (yes, in plural). Just as in real life, in quantum physics you can observe bonding, but answering the question as to why it happens - well that is a tough one. The point of these models is not really to describe why something happens. The point is to have a description that also predicts. That is why "how" is a more proper word to ask questions with when learning to understand these things. How does it work? How can we describe this accurately? How well does this description predict the future?

[@Glassjaw003]

Erudite Your facts are not entirely true. He was actually very smart in physics and mathematics at a young age. He even went to a Polytec!

[@amandacollier58]

My sister in law came over. When she met our dog she loved him and since she's never seen a dog pretty much all she did was ask interesting questions. Like "do dogs have belly buttons?" And even more interesting "do dogs laugh?" So I thought I'd send these questions your way. If you want to answer them I'd love it.

[@PoojaDeshpande84]

Hey, got a question. Now, according to Heisenberg we cannot predict exactly where an electron is at any given time. So when two atoms bond and they share an electron or two, do we know where exactly those are (because they are the "bridge" between the two atoms)? And if not, I mean they keep moving in all probably directions, how do the bonds work?

[@brandonhead4036]

basically just re learned chemistry class

[@seigeengine]

***** Everything is BS, but the details don't matter until they do.

[@new_randwrld]

Then how does James Bond?

[@rayhuster5212]

Bet it has something to do with Etoh and stds!

[@toastinggoodness]

MOAR make this guy do MORE PLZ

[@Onychoprion27]

Hey, SciShow: Why is it that atoms always seem to have the proper number of electrons unless transfers happen? Is there some kind of law that states whenever a proton is created an electron is, too, which ensured that the universe has an equal number of each? If so, why would the electrons be divided up evenly between the atoms when they started to form? Or am I misunderstanding things?

[@isectoid9454]

Dude, that joke at the beginning was good--on paper. The delivery was awful. this isn't pizza hut delivery, you gotta do better than that.

[@Thegeeksquadofone]

Wah, I'm a smart person who knows so much science things and you didn't say the science things right! I must now bitch about it in the comments so everyone knows of my brilliance!

[@kingstonb8130]

WATCHED THIS IN SCIENCE CLASS YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE HOW HAPPY I WAS

[@BrianMontesQ]

It takes a lot for me to literally like a video, and I liked this one.

[@SirNeutral]

It was the "ding!", wasn't it?

[@HyperionNyx]

Over simplified, to be honest. The octet rule? On SciShow? Really? You also mentioned electronegativity and nothing on polar molecules? Meh.

[@shengquanxuan132]

I know I am being very technical, but the title of this video is more related to How atoms bond, to the question of why atoms bond is more related to the nature of atoms wanting to fill their orbitals. Anyway, great video.

[@lfrohling]

This was really funny! You've final found your groove!!!!!!

[@BUTTERUNIVERSE11]

I seen a videos about charging your iPhone with acidic fruits with two different types of metals stab into it since the acid generate energy but can we charge the iPhone with humans brain or heart since they could sent electrical wave to our body parts to do stuff. Thank :)

[@mayhudson]

I love this guy!

[@BruceDylanTan]

Michael has improved so much since he first started hosting when Hank wasn't around.

[@KillerinstinctArcade]

best vid EveR!!

[@Manibe37]

I do understand why atoms bond with their compensating partners to reach their equilibrium. What I don't understand, is why atoms that make up matter in solid state stay "glued" to each other. Like, when I put a plate on a table, why doesn't the plate move the atoms of the table apart and falls? What is this "glue", or energy that keeps the atoms from being so easily separated, and why does it happen? Why is it more strong in some elements than in others etc. I would really like to have this explanation, because right now I'm on a sofa, and I'm afraid of doing something wrong, and maybe falling into the center of the Earth because, you know, science scares everyone. O.O

[@JackDecker63]

Suggestion: Do a down-the-rabbit-hole series. Down-the-rabbit-hole series is where you take one topic and then do another "smaller" topic off of that topic and then a "still smaller" topic off of that "smaller" topic. For example, the "smaller" topic off of this video could be "What makes some attractions between electrons negative and some positive?" Essentially, you would be doing "Connections"-like show (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_%28TV_series%29).

[@AssClappicus]

You mean like Vsauce? It's not that unique but yeah those are nice. But they will take more time, more money to make and you can probably expect fewer videos from their NETWORK of channels, inc crash course.

[@JackDecker63]

T Zman Did I say it would be original? No. Just a suggestion. "Vsauce" didn't invent this style either. BBC's "Connections" didn't either. It is a very old teaching method that, if done right, can capture and hold the attention of students. If you could come up with 200 such connections with the first of the series being a "smaller" topic of the last of the series, you'd have a nice complete KZbin playlist loop.

[@tpssiam1490]

Why is your show so addicting??

[@breese4907]

It would have been really nice if you had posted this last week when I was studying for my Physical Science semester test! Lol

[@marialourdesobidos3896]

i had to watch this over and over again coz i kept staring at his eyes. mesmerizing i say.

[@jaredstanton6901]

Heres a question: How does time "slow down" and/or "speed up" when near or far from a gravitational mass such as a black hole.

[@jaredstanton6901]

Or this: Why do we get really goofy after we haven't slept for a while??

[@RandomLari]

This video made more sense to me than any chemistry class I've ever taken. Wish I had seen it 2 years ago when I was almost failing chem. :/

[@TheMinato212]

Can you do a video on the Van Der Waals forces?I know how they work , but I can't imagine them in my head.

[@danielarthur1059]

Very interesting

[@meredithhargrave1178]

This is probably a stupid question, but I have always been confused on how atoms are drawn with things orbiting the nucleus. Is there actual empty space in every atom?

[@marko3296]

Anybody knows those small typewriters used in court for transcripts ?Would like to know how those work

[@jonnomonodesu]

Nice vid. Is Michael's hairstyle inspired by the 1970's show 'Star Maidens'?

[@joel8510]

Ok Ok Ok ive been wanting to clarify something here for a while. QUESTION. lets take water as an example H2O, there are 6 electrons in the outer shell of the oxygen with 2 hydrogen bonded to the Oxygen, so does this mean there are 4 remaining electrons in that outer electron field ? I've often been unsure about this bonding, does it mean that the bond has an electron from the oxygen and the hydrogen or a 'half value' from each to make the bond i.e does the bond have 2 electrons within it ?

[@emailkanji]

I thought that electron shells were wrong. Aren't orbitals the currently accepted model? And aren't electrons not shared but instead spread as a probability cloud when bonding?

[@TnEEn]

This tough me nothing... I understand (electromagnetic) equilibrium, but I don't understand what force makes it that one electron is "stolen" from one atom and disturbs the equilibrium of both atoms?

[@otmgi3865]

Here's a question for you, I know that protons, neutrons, and electrons make atoms, but what makes a proton, neutron, or electron? Stuff to think about, if you could explain that would be great. Thx

[@CynicatPro]

Michael... *SMACK*. good episode.

[@Error_404_-]

This is gr10 chemistry right here

[@seksigapanda]

Why do opposite charges attract and what makes an electron negative and a proton positive?

[@MetrologyEngineer]

Can you make a video on Quantum Field Theory, please?

[@TheRenaissanceReborn]

Fairly surprised conversations about electron affinity didn't come up here...

[@_fangs]

Micheal explained bonds better than any text book ever.

[@brownhard]

what is that shell made out of?

[@mrhenk007]

I went to school in france and they do things different there. Thanks for explaining the covalent bond to me.

[@conduit64]

Why do atoms bond? Because even atoms need love.

[@rafael123loek]

You should do a video on Cold Fusion ! :)

[@atelat6]

This was a pretty good explanation. I thought I understood bonding, but I didn't really acknowledge the reliance on electro negativity. I guess the way I was taught was a little oversimplified..

[@parulsingh9181]

thanks a lot for making the video my doubt is clear now.

[@benjaminseidlitz4002]

I have a question; What is "Sour" made of?

[@klaussmit850]

In regards to how atoms bond why is it that we still have to get water from natural resources instead of making it in the lab? And how is water made in the lab ? What are the energy cost of making water and how do they compare to the ones from getting it from natural resources. Is there any project being conducting on being able to economically produce water artificially?

[@rhycatcher1472]

u r very good presenter

[@vjagpal]

How does positive charged partials in nucleus stay bind together and can same happen to electrons?

[@flaviusclaudius7510]

The protons and neutrons are held together by the strong force, which doesn't interact with electrons.

[@vjagpal]

Natasha Taylor great, thanks Natasha

[@BrotherWoody1]

Is attraction a similar process as elective affinities?

[@DittyDafku]

Was on the hunt for a quantum mechanical explanation. Continuing my journey.

[@alveolate]

what are electrostatic forces? why are protons "positively charged" while electrons are "negatively charged"? what are these charges and what causes them? can other subatomic particles hold such charges? what are the "effective ranges" of such charges?

[@Bashirbros]

What makes atoms "want" (for lack of a better word) to have 8 electrons in their outer most shell? I was told it requires less energy of something, but why is that? How does losing/gaining an electron and possibly giving a charge to the atom make it more stable?

[@MrMysticphantom]

ahahaha i loved that ending "in the end, all comes down to attract..*twinkles*"

[@WWEdeadman]

Dat Bohr atomic model though. Seems kinda cute when you deal with molecular orbitals and their wave equations at university all the time...

[@xxxman360]

Wow! I'm the 1000th comment! Thanks for making this great video as I'm using it to help me on my future test!

[@ibrahimelsharkawy7958]

i have a question: why do metals stick together/bond in space

[@RangerColinLZ]

Ah, I remember learning this in chemistry. Rather interesting actually.

[@user-hb1dp5ok7j]

What determines the charge of subatomic particles?

[@AryanKumar-yv3zb]

Just wow 👍

[@sinofdusk3]

When SciShow posts something complicated, people go "Its too hard!!" "Basically I need a physics degree to understand this!" When SciShow posts something simple, people go "Revised chemistry class" "Learned this in high school"

[@DaryXnfinite]

I expected a more detailed explanation though. Like why are there charges in particles in the first place. But still a good video. :)

[@lukeshaw652]

This mysterious race of Adams. One day I will figure out how you work!!

[@markwu5252]

he explain this so much better than my high school teacher

[@JoshuaOransky]

They keep talking about bonds resulting from "sharing electrons", while showing NaCl. But doesn't that form an ionic bond? Aren't those bonds where the electrons are actually transferred, not shared? The H-H bond shown at the end is covalent, but these are fundamentally different. Is there some nuance I'm missing?

[@Roenazarrek]

Seems to make ionic and covalent bonds seem a little too similar. I mean just add water and the two ions bound come apart completely with an electron definitely being transferred over.