The forces between the particles that make up a material are central to the nature of matter. The material may be a gas, a solid or a liquid. It may consist of individual atoms, ions or molecules.

Revisit some basic ideas about:

All materials are held together by electrostatic forces. This is an important underlying idea that extends through our descriptions of chemical bonding. Electrostatic forces exist within metals, ionic and covalent substances. The forces may be strongly directional in character or not. The type of bonding which results will determine the properties of the material.

In this module you will review: