What is an ionic bond?

An ionic bond is defined as the electrostatic force that holds oppositely charged ions together. It forms when one atom transfers one or more electrons to another atom, resulting in the creation of charged ions. Typically, this process involves a metal atom losing electrons to become a positively charged cation, while a non-metal atom gains those electrons to become a negatively charged anion. The significant difference in electronegativity between these two types of elements makes the transfer of electrons favorable, leading to the formation of the ionic bond. This strong electrostatic attraction between the positively and negatively charged ions results in a stable compound, characteristic of ionic compounds.

In contrast, the other choices do not accurately describe an ionic bond: an attraction between like-charged ions would not lead to bond formation. Weak interactions do not represent the strength or characteristics of ionic bonds, and the mention of shared electrons pertains to covalent bonds, which operate on a fundamentally different principle than ionic bonding.