Book excerpt: Chemical Bonds and Bonds Energy, Second Edition provides information pertinent to the fundamental aspects of contributing bond energy and bond dissociation energy. This book explores the values that are useful in the interpretation of significant phenomena such as product distribution and reaction mechanisms. Organized into 12 chapters, this edition begins with an overview of the quantitative relationship among three basic properties of an atom, namely, nonpolar covalent radius, electronegativity, and homonuclear single covalent bond energy. This text then examines the quantitative means of evaluating the partial atomic charges that result from initial differences in the electromagnetivity of atoms that form a compound. Other chapters consider the recognition of the reduction of bond weakening not by multiplicity and in certain types of single covalent bonds. The final chapter deals with the application of the principal ideas and techniques to the oxidation of ethane. This book is a valuable resource for organic and inorganic chemists.