{"id":199367,"date":"2025-03-11T15:49:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T15:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=199367"},"modified":"2025-03-11T15:49:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T15:49:59","slug":"although-bh3-and-ch2o-have-similar-shapes-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/11\/although-bh3-and-ch2o-have-similar-shapes-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Although BH3 and CH2O have similar shapes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Although BH3 and CH2O have similar shapes, one is polar and the other is non-polar. Explain why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation of Polarity in BH\u2083 and CH\u2082O<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Both <strong>borane (BH\u2083)<\/strong> and <strong>formaldehyde (CH\u2082O)<\/strong> have a similar <strong>trigonal planar<\/strong> molecular geometry, but they differ in their polarity. The key reason lies in their <strong>electronegativity differences and symmetry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. BH\u2083 (Borane) \u2013 Nonpolar Molecule<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Molecular Geometry<\/strong>: Trigonal planar (120\u00b0 bond angles).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Electronegativity Consideration<\/strong>: Boron (B) has an electronegativity of <strong>2.04<\/strong>, while hydrogen (H) has <strong>2.20<\/strong>. Since the electronegativity difference is very small, the B-H bonds are almost <strong>nonpolar<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Symmetry<\/strong>: The three B-H bonds are arranged symmetrically around the central boron atom. As a result, any small dipoles cancel each other out, making the molecule <strong>nonpolar<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. CH\u2082O (Formaldehyde) \u2013 Polar Molecule<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Molecular Geometry<\/strong>: Trigonal planar (due to the presence of a double bond).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Electronegativity Consideration<\/strong>:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carbon (C) has an electronegativity of <strong>2.55<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hydrogen (H) has an electronegativity of <strong>2.20<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen (O) has a much higher electronegativity of <strong>3.44<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dipole Moment<\/strong>: The C=O bond is highly polar due to the large electronegativity difference, creating a strong dipole moment towards oxygen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Asymmetry<\/strong>: Unlike BH\u2083, the dipole moments in CH\u2082O <strong>do not cancel out<\/strong> because the molecule is <strong>not completely symmetrical<\/strong>. The oxygen pulls electron density towards itself, making one side of the molecule slightly negative and the other side slightly positive, resulting in a <strong>polar molecule<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though BH\u2083 and CH\u2082O share the same shape, BH\u2083 is nonpolar due to <strong>symmetrical charge distribution<\/strong>, whereas CH\u2082O is polar due to <strong>asymmetry and the highly electronegative oxygen atom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-847.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-199368\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is a scientific diagram comparing the molecular structures of <strong>BH\u2083 (borane) and CH\u2082O (formaldehyde)<\/strong>. It illustrates their <strong>trigonal planar shapes<\/strong>, the <strong>symmetrical charge distribution in BH\u2083 (nonpolar)<\/strong>, and the <strong>dipole movement in CH\u2082O (polar)<\/strong> due to the highly electronegative oxygen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although BH3 and CH2O have similar shapes, one is polar and the other is non-polar. Explain why. The correct answer and explanation is : Explanation of Polarity in BH\u2083 and CH\u2082O Both borane (BH\u2083) and formaldehyde (CH\u2082O) have a similar trigonal planar molecular geometry, but they differ in their polarity. The key reason lies in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}