On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1527

another, so great is the difference between
their electron hungers. Chemical compounds
held together by ionic bonds don’t simply
dissolve in water; they come apart into
separateions, or atoms that are electrically
charged because they either carry extra
electrons or gave up some of their electrons.
(The term was coined by the pioneer of
electricity, Michael Faraday, from the Greek
word for “going,” to name those electrically
chargedparticlesthatmovewhenanelectrical
field is set up in a water solution.) Salt, our
most common seasoning, is a compound of
sodium and chlorine held together with ionic
bonds. In a solid crystal of pure salt,
positivelychargedsodiumionsalternatewith
negativelychargedchlorideions,thesodiums
having lost their electrons to the chlorines.
Because several positive sodium ions are
always in a state of attraction to several
negative chloride ions, we can’t really speak
of individual molecules of salt, with one


particularsodiumatombondedtoaparticular
chlorine atom. In water, salt dissolves into
separate positive sodium ions and negative
chlorideions.

Ionicandcovalentbonds. Left:Anionicbond
resultswhenanatomcompletelycapturesone

or more electrons of another atom, and the
two atoms experience an attractive force
(dotted line) due to their opposite electrical
charges. Right:In the covalent bond, atoms
share electrons, and thereby form stable
combinationscalledmolecules.
Strong Bonds That Make Molecules A
secondkindofchemicalbond,calledcovalent
(from the Latin, “of equal power”), produces
s t a b l emolecules. When two atoms have