Francesco Giacomarra, Max Kraynak

Mrs. Albanese
Honors Chemistry
January 6, 2014
An Electron Tale
Our story begins with Randy and Beth, two electrons of Sodium who live in the town of
Periodic Table. Periodic Table was a very diverse town that was filled with many atoms and ions
of various bonds and polarity such as metallic, covalent, and ionic bonds. Some bonds were
polar-covalent while some were nonpolar-covalent. Randy and beth had lived here their whole
lives and had a happy life together. However, this all changed when Beth went missing. Initially,
Randy was in shock, as he had always had Beth by his side for as long as he had existed. Now he
was an unpaired electron and he didnt know what to do with himself. Distraught and with
nothing else to do, Randy decided to call Hydrogen Fluoride.
As the chief of police for the town of Periodic Table, Detective Hydrogen Fluoride was a
tough and seasoned veteran who was the perfect man to help solve the case of what happened to
Beth.
Hydrogen Fluoride was a great detective due to the fact that he was a colorless gas and thus
could easily tail suspects. He also rarely lost his composure, due to the fact that he was held
together by hydrogen bonds, a special type of dipole dipole interaction that meant that he had to
get really heated to bring his temper to the boiling point.

After ruling out Randy as the culprit, Detective Hydrogen Fluoride needed to look
elsewhere for clues as to what could have happened to Beth. After asking Randy some questions
about what Beth does and who she associates herself with, the detective decided to interview
Beths good friend, Boron Trifluoride. Upon first meeting her, the detective immediately offered
his condolences to Boron Trifluoride assuring her that he would do everything in his power to
find Beth. However, despite the grave circumstances, Boron Trifluoride was in good spirits and
optimistic about the situation. Hydrogen Fluoride was initially suspicious of Borons care-free
attitude, but later realized that she acted this way due to the fact that she was held together by a
nonpolar covalent bond, and all her valence levels were filled and satisfied. This was true despite
borons violation of the octet rule because boron only needs six electrons to fill its outer shell, a
fact that is further demonstrated by the lack of lone pairs on the central Boron atom in its Lewis
structure. Learning nothing new from his interview, Hydrogen Fluoride thanked Boron
Trifluoride for her cooperation and reported back to Randy.

Im sorry Randy, said the detective. I went to her job, her favorite spots, and even
talked to that friend of hers. It just seems that no one knows anything about what happened. Im
not sure well be able to find her.
Oh gosh, said Randy, his voice cracking into a sob. I cant believe this. Ill never see
my Beth again.
I wish there was more i could say, said the Hydrogen Fluoride.
Youve done your best and I appreciate it, detective. It serves me right anyway. I never
listened to her all the times she said she felt like she was being held back and needed to be set
free from our simple little life. Now Ill never know what really happened.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in the detectives electron cloud. After hearing the
comment about how Beth felt constrained, Hydrogen Fluoride remembered how he had heard
many other missing people make extremely similar comments in other cases he had done before.
Randy listen to me carefully, said the detective. Were you and Beth from the same
orbital?
No. I was from P and she was from S.
Hydrogen Fluorides suspicions were confirmed. After putting all the pieces together in
his head, the detective revealed to Randy that Beth must have in fact been a valence electron,
meaning that she was the only electron in her native orbital. This meant that she was very
susceptible to being abducted by a notorious crime ring of chlorine atoms that kidnapped other
valence electrons to fill their valence shells and complete the octet rule The chlorine atoms thus
create ionic bonds by kidnapping an electron from an atom of a metal, in this case Sodium. To
Randys horror, Hydrogen Fluoride deduced that Beth must be their latest victim. After realizing
the gravity of the detectives words Randy became distressed and started to panic.
Dont worry, said Hydrogen Fluoride. Theres one way I think I can save her.
The detective then began to carefully outline his plan. Since he was joined with a very
polar bond, that meant there was a big difference in electronegativity between the two elements
that joined together to form him. In this case, the elements were Hydrogen and Fluorine. The
detective knew that if he could find enough energy to break his hydrogen bonds and dissociate,
the resulting fluoride ions would be the have more electronegativity than chlorine and thus be
able to attract Beth and bring her back to safety.
The detective then tailed a member of the crime ring back to their secret hideout. The
hideout seemed to be just a worn down warehouse, but upon entering he realized that the worn-
down look was in fact a ruse to throw off the authorities. The inside was filled with state of the
art technology. The detective assumed that the warehouse must be powered by atoms with ionic
bonds that occur after the chlorine atoms kidnap the metal electrons. The detective then snapped
out of his amazement just in time to see Beth about to be used to fill the outer shell of one of the
chlorine atoms. He knew that there was only one way to save Beth, and he had only mere
seconds to rescue her. The then summoned every ounce of energy he possibly could, and
miraculously managed to dissociate himself into hydrogen and fluoride ions. Eventually the
electronegativity of the Fluoride ions was enough to overcome that of the chlorine, and Beth was
drawn to bond with an F
-1
ion. While Beth was saved from the clutches of the chlorine atom, she
would never be able to be reunited with Randy. This was because Fluorine has seven valence
electrons and Beth filled the last spot in the valence shell to complete the octet rule, and also
because Sodium has only one valence electron, meaning that Beth was the only electron of
Sodium that could bond with other atoms. While Randy was sad that he would never see his
lover again, he took a special comfort in knowing that she would be safe from the chlorine gang.
For as he long as he lived, Randy never forgot the brave thing Detective Hydrogen Fluoride did
for him.