electrical energy is transformed into energy of
motion. And the stronger the electrical force,
the more rapidly they accelerate toward each
other. The stronger the bond, the more energy
is released — lost — from the molecule in the
form of motion. Strong bonds, then, “contain”
less energy than weak bonds. This is another
way of saying that they are more stable, less
susceptible to change, than weak bonds.
Van der Waals bonds. Thanks to fluctuations
in the positions of their shared electrons, even
the nonpolar chains of carbon and hydrogen
atoms in fats experience weakly attractive
electrical forces (dotted lines).
Bond strength is defined as the amount of
energy released from the participating atoms
when they form the bond. This is the same as
the amount of energy required to break that