What type of bond occurs when nonmetals share electrons, as seen in water?

In the context of water, which is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, the type of bond that occurs between these nonmetals is a covalent bond. Covalent bonds form when two nonmetals share electrons in order to achieve a stable electron configuration. In water, each hydrogen atom shares one electron with the oxygen atom, allowing all three atoms to benefit from the shared electrons, leading to a stable molecule.

The sharing of electrons in covalent bonds contrasts distinctly with ionic bonds, which involve the transfer of electrons from one atom to another, resulting in oppositely charged ions that attract each other. Metallic bonds, on the other hand, involve a sea of shared electrons that are free to move among metal atoms, which is not applicable to the molecular structure of water. Lastly, hydrogen bonds are weak attractions that occur between the positively charged hydrogen of one water molecule and the negatively charged oxygen of another, and they do not involve the sharing of electrons like covalent bonds do. Thus, the interaction between nonmetals in water is best described by covalent bonding.