polar vs nonpolar

[Agustina Santa Cruz 2F]

What does the minimum numerical difference in electronegativity have to be for a molecule to be considered polar?

[SamayaJoshi1A]

Most textbooks say to be polar, it needs to be more than .5.

[Sameer Chowdhury 3C]

Beyond being given the specific electronegativity an easy way I find that generally works for finding out if a molecule is polar or nonpolar is to draw out the lewis structure, specifically with shape in mind (ie including bends due to lone paired electrons). If the molecule is perfectly symmetrical in all ways, than it is most likely nonpolar.

[Neel Sharma 3F]

Shape definitely is important to determining whether or not a compound is polar or not. However, for this midterm shape is not covered. As a shorthand rule remember that if a compound is between a element on the far right and the far left it is most likely ionic in nature. If they are closer together it is most likely less ionic and more covalent. Electronegativity follows ionization energy trends.

[Kaiya_PT_1H]

Yes I agree with Shamaya, the lower limit for a polar covalent bond is 0.5. The upper limit is around 1.6 or 1.7, and if the electronegativity difference is more than 2 it's considered to be an ionic bond!

[Alex Benson]

Hi! For it to be considered polar I believe it needs to be above the .5 threshold

[Irene Nguyen 2J]

The lower threshold is .5 for a polar covalent bond! The lewis structure is great for indicating whether it's polar or nonpolar if the shape is symmetrical; in that case, the compound is most likely nonpolar.

[Thomas Gimeno]

In class he said that if the difference is greater than 2 it is considered ionic and if the difference is less than 1.5 it is considered covalent.

[Jaden Kwon 3C]

I think the electronegativity difference has to be higher than or equal to 0.5 and lower than 1.6 for a bond to be considered polar.

[Maryeli Garay 2H]

In order to be polar I believe the electronegativity needs to be between the 0.5 and 1.6 threshold. If it’s over this threshold it is ionic :~)

[Anastasia Yulo 1C]

The difference in electronegativity needs to be between 0.5 and 1.6 to be considered polar!

[SahajDole_1C]

In most books, if the polarity difference is about 0.5 or more then it is said to be polar.

[LeahSWM 2E]

From what I read, the electronegativity difference has to be between 0.5 and 1.6 to be considered polar. Anything less than 0.5 is non-polar!

[Megan Hulsy 1A]

I've seen some exceptions to this rule, but in general 0.5 to 1.6 is the case to be polar!

[Heidi Buri 2I]

Hi! I believe that the minimum numerical difference in electronegativity in order for a molecule to be considered polar is 1.6 less. Also, if the difference in electronegativity is less than .05, the molecule is usually considered non polar.

[105618850]

I searched it up because I too was unsure about the minimum difference that classifies a molecule as polar. I found that most sources supported everyone else's answer that it must be greater than 0.5.

[Yolanda_Xing_3A]

Hi! I learn this not in the lecture( I am not sure if he talked about this but) when the difference in electro negativity is larger than .5, then it is consider as a polar bond. In most cases only same element bond are not polar ( ex: H2,O2)

[Katelyn_Ortega_1D]

In order for it to be polar, the electromagnativity difference must be in between .5 and 1.6.

[Brian_Wu_3B]

The difference has to be between 0.5 and 1.6

[Simran Bains 2C]

I believe it is from about 0.5 to 1.6.

[Emily Wu 2G]

yep! like everyone else said it’s between 0.5-1.6

[Xiang Li 2F]

I think it is from about 0.5 to 1.6, according to the text book.

[Mahima Manoj 1F]

I believe it is a difference greater than .5 !

[Gavin Trent 2F]

For a molecule to be polar, the difference in electronegativity between atoms must be greater than 0.5

[Samantha Quevedo 2L]

Hello! The minimum difference for a molecule to be polar is 0.5!

[Neha Jonnalagadda 2D]

In general, minimum difference in polarity must be about 0.5. This is because anything below this number is not as significant in making the electron distribution greater on one side than another.

[Ananya Sridharan]

I think the number is 0.5, but you can also look at the shape and the symmetry to determine if it is polar or nonpolar as well.