Dipole Moment

[Emilee Hosking 1D]

Can someone explain what a dipole moment is and what the arrow in the diagram of the dipole represents? Does this have anything to do with polarizability?

[Rachana Jayaraman 1H]

Dipole moments are partial positive or negative charges on an atom or in a molecule due to uneven sharing of electrons. The arrow points from the positive to the negative dipole because the electrons are being pulled towards the more electronegative atom or molecule. Polarizability and dipole moments are related because polarization causes distortions in electron clouds, resulting in the dipole moments.

[George Ghaly 2L]

Dipole moments occur instanously as electrons are pulled or pushed away by the electronegativity of the neighboring atom. These interactions are instances and last for a short period of time as electrons are continuously being pulled or pushed away. These instaneous shifts of electrons creates positively or negatively charged ions thus causing atoms to be polar or non polar.

[Hilda Sauceda 3C]

The bond dipole moment uses the idea of electric dipole moment to measure the polarity of a chemical bond within a molecule. It occurs whenever there is a separation of positive and negative charges, or when more electrons are being pulled to one side more than the other.