{"id":233704,"date":"2025-06-13T10:33:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T10:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=233704"},"modified":"2025-06-13T10:34:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T10:34:01","slug":"which-of-the-following-molecules-is-nonpolar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/13\/which-of-the-following-molecules-is-nonpolar\/","title":{"rendered":"Which of the following molecules is nonpolar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Which of the following molecules is nonpolar? PCl; XeF4; H2O<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-0-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correct Answer: XeF\u2084 is nonpolar.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the polarity of a molecule, both its <strong>molecular geometry<\/strong> and the <strong>electronegativity difference<\/strong> between the atoms must be considered. A molecule is <strong>nonpolar<\/strong> if the dipole moments of its bonds cancel out due to a symmetrical shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. <strong>PCl (Phosphorus Monochloride):<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This molecule appears to be phosphorus monochloride, but the correct molecular formula might be ambiguous. If assumed to be <strong>PCl\u2083<\/strong>, the molecule has a <strong>trigonal pyramidal<\/strong> shape due to a lone pair on phosphorus. The P\u2013Cl bonds are polar because chlorine is more electronegative than phosphorus. The asymmetrical geometry leads to a <strong>net dipole moment<\/strong>, making the molecule <strong>polar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. <strong>XeF\u2084 (Xenon Tetrafluoride):<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>XeF\u2084 has a central xenon atom bonded to four fluorine atoms, with <strong>two lone pairs<\/strong> on xenon. The electron geometry is <strong>octahedral<\/strong>, and the molecular shape is <strong>square planar<\/strong>. The fluorine atoms are arranged symmetrically around the xenon, and the lone pairs are positioned opposite each other. Although each Xe\u2013F bond is polar (fluorine is highly electronegative), the <strong>symmetrical arrangement<\/strong> of these bonds causes the dipoles to <strong>cancel out<\/strong>. Therefore, <strong>XeF\u2084 is nonpolar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. <strong>H\u2082O (Water):<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Water has a <strong>bent<\/strong> molecular shape due to the two lone pairs on the oxygen atom. The O\u2013H bonds are polar because of the electronegativity difference between oxygen and hydrogen. The bent shape means the bond dipoles do not cancel each other. As a result, water has a strong <strong>net dipole moment<\/strong>, making it <strong>polar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><br>Among the given molecules, <strong>XeF\u2084<\/strong> is the only one that is <strong>nonpolar<\/strong> due to its symmetrical square planar shape, which causes bond dipoles to cancel out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-308.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-233705\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which of the following molecules is nonpolar? PCl; XeF4; H2O The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Correct Answer: XeF\u2084 is nonpolar. Explanation: To determine the polarity of a molecule, both its molecular geometry and the electronegativity difference between the atoms must be considered. A molecule is nonpolar if the dipole moments of its bonds cancel [&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-233704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233704","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=233704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}