Polar Bonds

Question 1

What is polarity?

Answer 1

polarity is about the unequal sharing of the electrons between atoms that are bonded together covalently

it is a property of the bond

Question 2

What happens in covalent bonds between two atoms that are the same?

Answer 2

the electrons must be shared equally between the atoms

because both atoms have the exact same electronegativity and the bond is completely non-polar

e.g. F2

the cloud of charge is uniformly spread between the two atoms

Question 3

What happens in covalent bonds between two atoms that are different?

Answer 3

electrons will not be shared equally

e.g. in hydrogen fluoride the electrons will be attracted more by the fluorine than the hydrogen because F has a EN of 4 and H has a EN of 2,1

The fluorine end of the molecule is relatively negative, vice versa (partially charged)

covalent bonds like this are said to be polar

Question 4

How is the partial charges shown in a formula?

Answer 4

δ+H – Fδ-

Question 5

What determines how polar a molecule is?

Answer 5

the greater the difference in electronegativity, the greater the polarity between the covalent bonds