Electronegativity and Polarity

An inset of an Electronegativity Scale is depicted at the top left by a graduated vertical line with values 3.5, 3.0, 2.5 and 2.1 marked from top to bottom respectively. A red sphere labeled ‘O’ representing an oxygen atom is adjacent to 3.5, a blue sphere labeled ‘N’ representing a nitrogen atom is adjacent to 3.0, a dark grey sphere labeled ‘C’ representing a carbon atom is adjacent to 2.5 and a small light grey sphere labeled ‘H’ representing a hydrogen atom is adjacent to 2.1.

At the top right are 3 columns containing bonded pairs of atoms depicted by ball-and-stick models. A connecting stick between two atoms represents a single bond. The first column contains a bonded molecule of 2 carbon atoms and a bonded molecule of 2 hydrogen atoms one below the other. The second column contains a bonded molecule of 1 nitrogen and 1 hydrogen atoms, a bonded molecule of 1 oxygen and 1 carbon atoms and a bonded pair of 2 oxygen atoms one below the other. The third column contains a bonded molecule of 1 oxygen and 1 hydrogen atoms, a bonded molecule of 1 oxygen and 1 nitrogen atoms and a bonded molecule of 1 nitrogen and 1 carbon atoms one below the other. 4 beakers labeled as ‘Nonpolar’, ‘Moderately polar’, ‘Highly polar’ and ‘Most polar’ are arranged from left to right respectively.Pressing the spacebar key to select an item, use the Arrow keys to navigate and press the enter key to drop the selected item.

Bonded molecule of 2 Carbon atoms
Bonded molecule of 2 Hydrogen atoms
Bonded molecule of 1 Nitrogen and 1 Hydrogen atoms
Bonded molecule of 1 Oxygen and 1 Carbon atoms
Bonded molecule of 2 Oxygen atoms
Bonded molecule of 1 Oxygen and 1 Hydrogen atoms
Bonded molecule of 1 Oxygen and 1 Nitrogen atoms
Bonded molecule of 1 Nitrogen and 1 Carbon atoms
Nonpolar
Moderately polar
Highly polar
Most polar

Electronegativity is so useful that you shouldn't leave this topic until you can use the scale to predict polarity. Here's an exercise to build skills. We put some bonded pairs of atoms on the screen. Use the scale to determine how polar each bond is; then drag the bonded pair to the correct beaker. Remember, polarity results from differences in electronegativity!

More info:

  1. 1. Why should I learn to predict polarity?