Pauling's electronegativity scale was a number of steps removed from any rigorous grounding in quantum mechanics, was therefore one of his least theoretically well-founded ideas — and became one of his most influential. It was easily grasped by chemists, who appreciated its practical value in addressing real-world problems. By comparing the electronegativity of two elements from his tables, researchers could for the first time roughly predict the properties of a bond formed between them without having to know the first thing about the wave equation. The scale quickly earned wide adoption.

Pauling's mixing and matching of empirical observations with ideas from quantum physics was imaginative and dangerous. At each step he added a few more assumptions and moved a little further away from a hard grounding in accepted theory. Years later this would trip him up when critics would question the justification for his schemes, but for now it appeared that everything he did worked, and worked brilliantly.