Answer to Question #156760 in General Chemistry for Munir Ali

Question

How does this electron distribution affect the charges of the bonded atoms?

Answer 1

The higher the EN value, the greater the tendency of an atom to hold onto electrons in a bond and become negatively charged.

When the shared electrons experience a stronger attraction from one atom than the other due to a higher electronegativity of the atom, the result is a polar covalent bond.

When the shared electrons experience the same attraction from each atom, the result is a nonpolar covalent bond.