Cis and trans dipole moments

[006248274]

Is the cis structure the polar version while the trans structure the nonpolar as the dipoles cancel? What about when thinking in a 3D model, couldn't a cis molecule have the electronegative atoms pointing in opposite ways thus making it non polar since dipoles cancel? One into the plane and the other outside the plane of vision

[marissa]

When thinking in a 3d model, the meaning of cis and trans still apply, so a cis structure will be dipoles on the same side, meaning they wont cancel. If they are in opposite wasy in a 3D model, they are considered trans because the dipoles cancel out. so in the final, if it says its a cis molecule, we can assume that the dipoles do not cancel out and the molecule is polar, but if it says trans, we can assume that the dipoles are opposite each other and cancel out to be nonpolar overall as a molecule.