[cliffhanley]

when sodium donates an electron to chlorine they both become electrically attractive (sodium positively, chlorine negatively); do they then automatically bond?  to put it another way, does the act of donating/receiving the electron cause them to bond?  or, do they get themselves electrically attractive, then bond whenever, and with whatever other attractive atom comes along (ie, not necessarily the one they've donated too/received from)?

[Arkcon]

Yes, there a little animation on this page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionic_bond , and the description does discuss the energetics.

[cliffhanley]

thanks arkcon, that was helpful.  just one more question to clarify; is it the act of donating/receiving that causes the ions to bond?  or, is it the proximity of the ions following the act of donating/receiving?

[rkaminski]

Well, it's not true in general, that if some molecule or an atom give an electron to another specie they will form a bond, an ionic bond. An ionic bond is not only an attractive interaction between species but, it it also their capability to form crystal (or whatever) structure. If you have something like NaCl it is not stable, in reality you don't have pure NaCl molecule but you have (NaCl)_x system, in which, probably there is even covalent character of the bonding present. You have to take also into account that such electron transfer from Na to Cl occurs at very big distance (ca. 3 A).