Answer to Question #111887 in Physical Chemistry for Salina

Question

Explain as completely as possible what effect the higher electronegativity of bromine has on the electrons and on the charges of the molecule.

Answer 1

Bromine atom attracts a negative charge, because the electron cloud in a σ-bond between two unlike atoms is not uniform and is displaced towards the more electronegative of the two atoms. The effect of the sigma electron displacement towards the highly electronegative atom by which one end becomes positively charged and the other end negatively charged is known as the inductive effect, and bromine has -I effect.