ELECTRONEGATIVITY AND BOND TYPE .3. ORIGINS OF BOND TYPE

Using the bond character of numerous solid binary compounds, graphs of two functions of electronegativity can provide information on the atomic contributions to bonding. While a plot of the difference and average electronegativity, Delta(chi) vs <(chi)over bar>, shows the historical isosceles triangle, other plots provide additional insight into bonding. The graph of lower and higher electronegativity, chi(lo), vs chi(hi), indicates that it is the individual electronegativity values of bonded atoms that uniquely determine bond type. When Delta(chi) is plotted against chi(lo), the data forms a right triangle aligned with the axes, implying that these functions best correlate with bond type.