Answer to Question #75933 in General Chemistry for justin

Question

which of these best describe why the water molecular is polar?

Answer 1

Water (H2O) is polar because of the bent shape of the molecule. The shape means most of the negative charge from the oxygen on side of the molecule and the positive charge of the hydrogen atoms is on the other side of the molecule. This is an example of polar covalent chemical bonding. The reason the shape of the molecule isn't linear and nonpolar (e.g., like CO2) is because of the difference in electronegativity between hydrogen and oxygen. The electronegativity value of hydrogen is 2.1, while the electronegativity of oxygen is 3.5. Hydrogen and oxygen are both acting as nonmetals under ordinary conditions, but oxygen is quite a bit more electronegative than hydrogen, so the two atoms form a covalent chemical bond, but it's polar. The highly electronegative oxygen atom attracts electrons or negative charge to it, making the region around the oxygen more negative than the areas around the two hydrogen atoms. The electrically positive portions of the molecule (the hydrogen atoms) are flexed away from the two filled orbitals of the oxygen. Basically, both hydrogen atoms are attracted to the same side of the oxygen atom, but they are as far apart from each other as they can be because of the hydrogen atoms both carry a positive charge. The bent conformation is a balance between attraction and repulsion.