C-H bond polarity

[Joanna Huang]

This always messes me up-- why is the C-H bond considered non-polar? They're really far apart on the periodic table, and if you follow the electronegativity trend on the periodic table, they should be different electronegativities? Unless this is an exception. If so, what are the other exceptions?

[Chem_Mod]

If you look up the electronegativity values of Hydrogen and Carbon, the values are pretty close to each other, which is why the C-H is considered nonpolar.

[Ethan Laureano 3H]

You would think that because they are far then it'll be polar. However, when you search up an electronegativity chart, hydrogen is only about .35 less electronegative than carbon. Despite its position in the periodic table, hydrogen actually has a decent electronegativity.

[Hayden Lee 1C]

If you search the difference in electronegativity between the two atoms, it is only 0.35. Since the difference between their electronegativities is so small, we can state that the bond is nonpolar (electrons will be more equally shared). The two atoms have similar electronegativities, therefore the bond is nonpolar.

[Rohit Srinivas 2D]

Their electronegativity difference is about 0.4 which means it is non polar. Anything above 2.0 is considered ionic bonding. Since 0.4 is so small it is considered non polar as the ionic character of this bond is very low.

[Megan ODonnell 3F]

The difference in electronegativities isn't significant enough for it to be a polar bond.

[Chance Herbert 3A]

Since the electronegativity difference between Carbon and Hydrogen is relatively small (approximately 0.35), the electrons will be more likely to be evenly distributed between the two atoms. In response to Joanna, the properties of hydrogen are unique in that hydrogen is likely to attract the one electron to fill its shell that can hold only two electrons, giving it a higher electronegativity than other elements in the same group with repelling inner shells of electrons. For example, Na has an electronegativity of approximately 0.93 while hydrogen is approximately 2.2.

[105618850]

It isn't considered polar because the differences in electronegativities isn't that significant. A way that I associated C-H bonds with non polarity is the fact that, in organic chemistry, hydrocarbons are always considered non polar.

[Faith Lee 2L]

In general, we assume that any bond containing atoms with an electronegativity difference of less than 1.5 to be polar. However, when the difference is particularly small (anywhere from 0.0 to 0.4-0.5, depending on your source), we would describe the bond as nonpolar. You would need to refer to an electronegativity table in order to calculate the electronegativity difference between C and H (about 0.35). In this case, we can't rely on electronegativity trends because H's electronegativity is unusually high for a Group 1 element. Hope this helps :)

[Heidi Buri 2I]

Hi! The C-H bond is considered non-polar due to the difference in electronegativy if the atoms. Carbon and Hydrogen have similar electronegativities. Due to this similarity in electronegativity values, the C-H bond is considered non-polar.

[Morgan Gee 3B]

C and H have very similar electronegativities, causing their bond to be considered a nonpolar covalent bond. The reason why they are so far apart is because of their difference in electrons in the valence shell. It makes more sense for H to be in group 1 because it was 1 electron in the valence shell, resulting in it being so far apart from C.