Most polyatomic cations and anions contain covalent and coordinate covalent bonds. The octet rule cannot be satisfied in molecules whose total number of valence electrons is an odd number. There are also molecules in which an atom has less or more than a complete octet of valence electrons. The energy required to break the bond between covalently bonded atoms is called Bond dissociation energy. A large bond dissociates energy to a strong covalent bond. Resonance structures are structures that occur when it is possible to draw two or more valid electron dot structures that have the same number of electron pairs for a molecule or ion. Chemists use resonance structures to envision the bonding in molecules that cannot be adequately described by a single structural formula. When two atoms combine, this model assumes that their atomic orbitals overlap to produce molecular orbitals, or orbitals that apply to the entire molecule. Just as an atomic orbital belongs to a particular atom, a molecular orbital belongs to a molecule as a whole. A molecular orbital that can be occupied by two electrons of a covalent bond is called a bonding