Question

What is the difference between polar and non polar covalent bonds? (A simple explanation will be greatly appreciated, I cannot grasp the concept of the meaning.)

Answer 1

Look at covalent bonding. In a covalent bond between two atoms, the electrons from the atoms get shared right?.

So basically, you must see if the electrons are being shared evenly between atoms or not. It is probably never the case, since atoms are of different electronegativies, and the electrons are negatively charged. The more electronegative atom tends to pull the electrons to itself more. So in that case, the electrons being shared spend most of their time orbiting around the more electronegative atom

Imagine me and you are atoms, we both have say a rope that we are sharing, we are both pulling on the rope. So say that Im the more electronegative atom, so I pull the rope stronger then you and therefore im getting more of the rope to myself then you are. So just think of the rope as the sharing electrons.

Now to determine if its polar or non polar bond, look at the table of electronegativities of each element, minus the two differences and if its greater then 0.5, then its a polar bond.

Answer 2

when your calculating the difference take the lower - higher

Answer 3

Oh my god! That's it? I have been stressing over that ha well THANK-YOU SO SO MUCH!!! The example helped a lot!

Answer 4

:) cool