I have asked a question loosely asking this, where I confused terms and did not specify what I wanted to know here, so I formed a new question.
What are the differences and similarities between ionic bonds and covalent bonds and ionic bonds and dipole-dipole interactions?
It seems to be that an ionic bond is nothing but a stronger dipole-dipole interaction. The only difference is where the electrons are.
For example, let's take a sodium cation and chloride anion bond. The sodium had its electron taken away from it. It is now positive. Chloride had an electron added to it and it's feeling negative. Now the two will attract because of these charges.
Now let's take two water molecules. The hydrogen of one will be positive because it is less electronegative and thus the electron density will be greater around the oxygen, which is more electronegative, making it negative. Now the hydrogen of one and the oxygen of another will attract due to the charges.
It seems like the only difference is that if you split the sodium chloride and the water's hydrogens and oxygen, the sodium and chloride will still have a charge, but the hydrogens and oxygen will not.
By textbook, a dipole-dipole interaction is an intermolecular force while a covalent bond, as well as an ionic bond, is a chemical bond. It seems to me that, yes, the forming of ions is a chemical reaction, but the ionic bond is an intermolecular force.
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