In an introductory physics course one of the student computer projects provided a clear demonstration of how the covalent bond, the fundamental bond of organic chemistry and biology, arises directly from Coulomb’s law. Since the project was carried out by a student whose study of physics consisted of only one semester of Newtonian mechanics, the project shows that a background in quantum mechanics need not be a prerequisite for a basic understanding of molecular forces. In fact, this work suggests that we can reorganize our presentation of material in introductory physics courses, using the covalent bond as one of the basic applications of Coulomb’s law, just as we use planetary motion as a basic application of Newton’s law of gravity.