A polar molecule acts as an electric dipole which can interact with electric fields that are created artificially, or that arise from interactions with nearby ions or other polar molecules.ĭipoles are conventionally represented as arrows pointing in the direction of the negative end. Molecular polarity: when an entire molecule, which can be made out of several covalent bonds, has a net polarity, with one end having a higher concentration of negative charge and another end having a surplus of a positive charge.Such bonds are said to be ‘polar’ and possess partial ionic character. As a result, the electrons will not be shared equally. Bond polarity: when atoms from different elements are covalently bonded, the shared pair of electrons will be attracted more strongly to the atom with the higher electronegativity.Such bonds are thought of as consisting of partially charged positive and negative poles.

Bonds that fall in between the two extremes, having both ionic and covalent character, are classified as polar covalent bonds. In the conventional presentation, bonds are designated as ionic when the ionic aspect is greater than the covalent aspect of the bond.

The larger the difference in electronegativity between two elements in a bond, the more ionic the nature of the bond. The higher its electronegativity, the more an element attracts electrons. An atom’s electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the size of the atom. The degree of ionic versus the covalent character of a bond is determined by the difference in electronegativity between the constituent atoms.Įlectronegativity is a property that describes the tendency of an atom to attract electrons (or electron density) toward itself. All bonding interactions have some covalent character because the electron density remains shared between the atoms. T he bond formed between any two atoms is not purely ionic. There are multiple kinds of attractive forces, including covalent, ionic, and metallic bonds. If the electronegativities of two atoms in a polar covalent bond differ vastly, the bond is said to have partial ionic character.Ĭompounds are frequently classified by the bonds between constituent atoms.

Molecular vs ionic