{"id":237309,"date":"2025-06-17T06:47:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T06:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=237309"},"modified":"2025-06-17T06:47:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T06:47:06","slug":"draw-the-lewis-structure-of-formaldehyde-hco-and-then-determine-if-the-molecule-is-polar-or-nonpolar-a-nonpolar-b-polar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/17\/draw-the-lewis-structure-of-formaldehyde-hco-and-then-determine-if-the-molecule-is-polar-or-nonpolar-a-nonpolar-b-polar\/","title":{"rendered":"Draw the Lewis structure of formaldehyde (HCO) and then determine if the molecule is polar or nonpolar. + A) Nonpolar B) Polar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Draw the Lewis structure of formaldehyde (H<br>CO) and then determine if the molecule is polar or nonpolar. + A) Nonpolar B) Polar<\/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\/image-622.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-237310\"\/><\/figure>\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>To determine the polarity of formaldehyde (H\u2082CO), start by drawing its Lewis structure. Formaldehyde consists of one carbon atom, one oxygen atom, and two hydrogen atoms. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Count the total number of valence electrons:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carbon has four valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen has six valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each hydrogen has one valence electron.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The total number of valence electrons is 12.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identify the central atom:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carbon is the central atom because it forms multiple bonds and has the lowest electronegativity among the non-hydrogen atoms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arrange the atoms:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Place the carbon atom in the center.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bond the oxygen to the carbon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Attach the two hydrogen atoms to carbon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Distribute electrons:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Create a double bond between carbon and oxygen to satisfy their octets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carbon forms two single bonds with hydrogen atoms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen has two lone pairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lewis structure is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>H | H &#8211; C = O<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now evaluate the polarity. The carbon-oxygen bond is polar due to oxygen&#8217;s higher electronegativity, which pulls electron density toward itself. Additionally, formaldehyde adopts a trigonal planar geometry, meaning the dipoles do not cancel out. As a result, the molecule has a net dipole moment, making it <strong>polar<\/strong>. Therefore, the correct answer is <strong>B) Polar<\/strong>. The molecular shape and electronegativity difference ensure the molecule has an uneven charge distribution, resulting in its polarity. This affects properties like solubility and intermolecular interactions.<\/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-banner8-810.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-237311\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Draw the Lewis structure of formaldehyde (HCO) and then determine if the molecule is polar or nonpolar. + A) Nonpolar B) Polar The Correct Answer and Explanation is: To determine the polarity of formaldehyde (H\u2082CO), start by drawing its Lewis structure. Formaldehyde consists of one carbon atom, one oxygen atom, and two hydrogen atoms. Follow [&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-237309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237309","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=237309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}