{"id":238493,"date":"2025-06-18T07:29:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T07:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=238493"},"modified":"2025-06-18T07:29:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T07:29:37","slug":"determine-whether-the-following-molecules-are-polar-or-nonpolar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/18\/determine-whether-the-following-molecules-are-polar-or-nonpolar\/","title":{"rendered":"Determine whether the following molecules are polar or nonpolar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Determine whether the following molecules are polar or nonpolar: (a) SF4, (b) SiCl4.<\/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>Thought for a few seconds<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Answer:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>(a) SF\u2084:<\/strong> Polar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(b) SiCl\u2084:<\/strong> Nonpolar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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>The polarity of a molecule depends on both the individual bond polarities and the overall molecular geometry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. SF\u2084 (Sulfur Tetrafluoride)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Electron\u2011pair arrangement:<\/strong> Sulfur has five regions of electron density (four S\u2013F bonds and one lone pair). According to VSEPR theory, these regions adopt a trigonal\u2011bipyramidal electron\u2011pair geometry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Molecular shape:<\/strong> With one lone pair occupying an equatorial position, the resulting molecular shape is called a \u201cseesaw.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bond polarities:<\/strong> Each S\u2013F bond is highly polar because fluorine is much more electronegative than sulfur.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dipole moment:<\/strong> In a perfect trigonal bipyramid with no lone pairs, some bond dipoles would cancel. However, in the seesaw shape the lone pair creates an asymmetry. The four bond dipoles cannot fully cancel because the lone pair pushes the surrounding fluorine atoms into positions that break the symmetry. As a result, there is a net dipole moment pointing from the sulfur toward the region occupied by the lone pair.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong> SF\u2084 is polar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. SiCl\u2084 (Silicon Tetrachloride)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Electron\u2011pair arrangement:<\/strong> Silicon has four bonding pairs and no lone pairs. The four Si\u2013Cl bonds arrange themselves in a tetrahedral electron\u2011pair geometry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Molecular shape:<\/strong> The shape is a regular tetrahedron, with bond angles of about 109.5\u00b0.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bond polarities:<\/strong> Each Si\u2013Cl bond is polar because chlorine is more electronegative than silicon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dipole cancellation:<\/strong> In a perfect tetrahedron, the four bond dipole vectors are symmetrically arranged and cancel one another out exactly. There is no remaining net dipole.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong> SiCl\u2084 is nonpolar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key points to remember:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Geometry controls dipole cancellation.<\/strong> Even strongly polar bonds can yield a nonpolar molecule if the shape is highly symmetric.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lone pairs introduce asymmetry.<\/strong> When a central atom has lone pairs, the molecular shape is distorted from perfect symmetry, typically resulting in a polar molecule if the bond polarities do not symmetrically oppose each other.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\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-banner5-750.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-238494\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Determine whether the following molecules are polar or nonpolar: (a) SF4, (b) SiCl4. The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Thought for a few seconds Answer: Explanation The polarity of a molecule depends on both the individual bond polarities and the overall molecular geometry. 1. SF\u2084 (Sulfur Tetrafluoride) 2. SiCl\u2084 (Silicon Tetrachloride) Key points to remember:<\/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-238493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238493","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=238493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}