dipole moment

[Adrienne_4F]

What exactly does the dipole moment tell us and how do we determine whether a dipole moment is large or small?

[pauline_le_3I]

To add onto this, how do we use the dipole moment to determine polarization?

[Sophia Ding 1B]

The dipole moment tells us the measure of the polarity of the molecule, happening from the separation of charge. This relates to the special ionic/covalent character we learned about, how there are partial charges to make a covalent bond have ionic properties by the asymmetric distribution of electrons in the chemical bonds. You can determine whether the dipole moment is large or small by looking at the molecule; for instance, I think that HF would have a pretty large dipole moment as the electronegativity of flourine is quite high relative to hydrogen, where as N2 has an even distribution in the dipole charge thus having a small or almost "no" dipole moment (cancels out).