CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Is trigonal planar polar if one of the attached atoms is different from the other two? Is it similar to how tetrahedral is only nonpolar if all four attached atoms are the same?

Yes, if one of the attached atoms is different, it is polar.

Alex Tchekanov wrote:Yes, if one of the attached atoms is different, it is polar.

So if all the atoms are the same, then it is nonpolar?

Guzman_1J wrote:

Alex Tchekanov wrote:Yes, if one of the attached atoms is different, it is polar.

So if all the atoms are the same, then it is nonpolar?

I believe that if the three atoms attached to the central atom are the same, the molecule will be nonpolar because the three potential dipoles would cancel out. I look at it as vector addition if that helps.