How do you determine if molecules are polar or non-polar?

Question

aaronq · Answer

draw them out, if they have atoms which are highly electronegative, they will be polar, typically, unless their dipoles cancel out due to symmetry aka Cl-C-Cl..  dipoles will cancel out.

aaronq · Answer

you should go on youtube and look some stuff up with examples

anonymous · Answer

but isnt there a rule which state if they're polar covalent they're ____________ and if they're ionic they are __________

aaronq · Answer

both polar covalent and ionic bonds are polar; only non-polar covalent bonds are non polar (obviously). These are when electrons are equally shared.

aaronq · Answer

polar covalent means that they're sharing of the electron pair is distributed unequally, and you end up with partial negative and positive charges

aaronq · Answer

ionic is extremely polar because the molecules are actually charged due to an exchange of electrons and what holds them together is their attraction for one another (electrostatically)