In , the nitrogen is bound covalently to the three oxygens, and the complex has an overall of .

Sodium has a charge of , and is ionically bound to the  complex.

When put into water, the compound will dissociate into  and .

HCl is an ionic compound, while the other answer choices have only covalent bonds.

Covalent bonds form when two atoms share electrons, caused by an overlap of their orbitals. Each atom has a similar amount of "pull" on the electrons, preventing them from getting too close to one atom or the other and keeping them in the middle. This "pull" is the electronegativity. Atoms in covalent bonds have similar electronegativity values to keep the electrons in the center. When the electronegativities are slightly different, the electrons can lean toward one atom. The result is a polar bond, in which one atom is closer to the electrons (negative) and the other is farther (positive). Most non-metals have very high and very similar electronegativity values, and will readily form covalent bonds.

When the difference in electronegativity, or "pull," is too great, the electrons will be transferred from one atom to the other. The result is an ionic bond, which usually forms between a metal (low electronegativity) and a non-metal (high electronegativity).

There are two primary types of intramolecular bonds: ionic bonds and covalent bonds. In an ionic bond, an electron is transferred (donated) from one atom to the other, usually allowing both atoms to satisfy the octet rule. In a covalent bond, electrons are shared between two atoms in order to allow both to satisfy the octet rule. A covalent single bond consists of two shared electrons, while a double bond will consist of four and a triple bond will consist of six.

Covalent bonds usually form between two non-metals. Diatomic gases, CH₄, and NaOH are all examples of molecules that contain covalent bonds.

A polar covalent bond describes a bond between two atoms that share electrons unequally. This results from a difference in electronegativity between the atoms. This difference is enough to cause a dipole, but not enough to consitute an ionic bond.

A non-polar covalent bond is a bond between two atoms sharing ions equally due to similar electronegativities.

A double bond occurs when four electrons are shared between two atoms.

A coordinate covalent bond refers to a covalent bond in which one atom donates both shared electrons.

A nonpolar covalent bond occurs when two atoms share electrons equally. This happens when the electronegativities of each atom is relatively close to one another. For example, in water, oxygen is much more electronegative than hydrogen (3.5 and 2.1 respectively), oxygen keeps the electrons closer to its nucleus and results in uneven sharing of the electrons between itself and the two hydrogen atoms. This results in a net dipole in the molecule with the oxygen-end being slightly negative, and the hydrogen-end being slightly positive.

The octet rule requires that each atom in the molecule has eight valence electrons, fully filling the s and p subshells. Atoms that have a full octet tend to be more stable and lower in energy.

In the compound , each fluorine has seven initial valence electrons and boron has three initial valence electrons. Upon forming the compound bonds, boron shares its three electrons with each fluorine through covalent bonds. This givens each fluorine a full octet, but leave boron with only three covalent bonds, resulting in only six valence electrons. Boron does not satisfy the octet rule in this compound.

Each atom in the other listed compounds forms bonds to generate a full octet. Sodium chloride achieves this through an ionic bond. Methanal and diatomic oxygen both use double bonds to help achieve octets.

..            ..

:F — B —  F:         Boron can have a violated octet (6 e^-) and each F has 3 lone pairs

..      |      ..          for a total of 9 pairs of unpaired electrons

        :F:

         .. 

BCl₃ only has six electrons around boron, while NO₂ (with an odd number of electrons) would have only 7 electrons around the central nitrogen.

Lewis dot diagrams can help us keep track on how the valence electrons will disperse themselves among orbitals in the atom. When drawing these diagrams, it is important to keep two things in mind.

1. The s orbital will be filled before the p orbital begins to be filled.

2. Electrons will never pair in the same orbital if an orbital of equal energy is unoccupied.

Knowing these two facts, we can predict which of the following elements will have two unpaired electrons.

Fluorine will have seven valence electrons, meaning that only one orbital will not be completely filled.

Beryllium only has two valence electrons, but they will both be found in the 2s orbital, because it must be filled before the p orbitals can receive electrons.

Nitrogen will have five valence electrons, so two will be found in the 2s orbital. The other three will be present in their own p orbitals, meaning nitrogen has three unpaired electrons.

Neon will have eight valence electrons, fully filling the 2s and 2p orbitals. It will have no unpaires electrons. 

Carbon has one less valence electron than nitrogen, meaning that it will have two unpaired electrons in the p orbitals.

Isoelectronic means having the same electron configuration (i.e. the same number of electrons).  and  both have the same number of electrons (18), while sulfur has 16, phosphorous has 15, neon has 10, and the sodium cation has 10.