Thread: Question about bonding processes?

I just have a quick question. I performed an experiment the other day involving steel wool and water to form iron oxide, otherwise known as rust. Of course, the oxygen in the air combines with the metal to form iron oxide over time.

I've read about covalent and ionic bonds as well, but now I've a new question I'm not one hundred percent sure how to answer...

I mean, how does the bonding of oxygen with iron in rust differ from the bonding of oxygen in water? I know that iron oxide is an ionic compound, and water is covalent ... But I'm not really sure what they have in common?

Can somebody help me out here?

In covalent bonding, each atom contributes an electron to the bond, and these electrons are 'shared' between the atoms - typically shown as held directly between the atoms.

In ionic bonding, one atoms takes an electron or some electrons from another atoms, resulting in positively and negatively charged particles called ions. What we might draw as the bond is the electric forces of attraction between these ions.