Answer to Question #133948 in Biochemistry for Iliana

Question

Water is described as Polar Covalent. What does that mean

Answer 1

Polar covalent is the type of bonding that occurs within a water molecule. This type of bond is present when electronegativities of two atoms are different, but this difference is not big enough for electrons to be completely transferred from one atom to another. Covalent means that valence electrons of H and O atoms are shared between each other. Polar means that this sharing is not equal, and electron density is higher near the more electronegative atom (in this case - oxygen) causing partial positive and negative charges to occur at H and O atoms respectively.