Covalent bonds are stronger than intermolecular forces because covalent bonds involve atoms sharing electrons directly, which creates a strong and stable connection. Intermolecular forces are just weak attractions between different molecules, not within the molecule itself.

Electronegativity is how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons. When two atoms have a big difference in electronegativity, the electrons are pulled more toward one atom, making the bond polar. If the atoms have similar electronegativity, the electrons are shared more equally, making the bond non-polar.

A polar covalent bond has unequal sharing of electrons, so one end of the bond becomes slightly negative, and the other slightly positive. A non-polar covalent bond shares electrons equally, so there is no charge difference on either side.

Water is a polar molecule because the oxygen atom pulls the shared electrons more strongly than the hydrogen atoms do. This makes the oxygen side slightly negative and the hydrogen side slightly positive, even though the bonds are covalent.

When atoms share more electrons, the bond becomes stronger and shorter. A single bond shares one pair of electrons, a double bond shares two pairs, and a triple bond shares three pairs. Triple bonds are the strongest and shortest, and single bonds are the weakest and longest.

Some molecules form double or triple bonds when atoms need to share more electrons to fill their outer shells (octet rule). These types of bonds make the molecule more stable but also less flexible, affecting how it reacts.

Lone pairs are pairs of electrons that aren’t used for bonding. They still take up space around the atom and push bonded atoms away, which changes the shape of the molecule. For example, water is bent instead of straight because of the lone pairs on the oxygen atom.