ABSTRACT
In algebraic chemistry (AC), the nature of chemical bonding between atoms is analyzed as instantaneously ‘ionic.’ The usual further distinction between ‘polar’ and ‘non-polar’ covalent bonding in molecules is also not needed. All distinctions become energy distinctions between the different ionic configurations. AC assigns an energy measure to every candidate ionic configuration. The concept of ionic configuration offers an alternative approach that reduces the problem of exploring so many continuous variables. Given the chemical formula for a molecule, it is possible to imagine a finite, discrete, set of possible ways the atoms could all be ionized, and so be made to stick together. In Nature, however, both ionic configurations can exist, although only in proportion to their so-called ‘Boltzmann factors.’.
