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In chemistry, polarity is a separation of electric charge leading to a molecule or its chemical groups having an electric dipole moment, with a negatively charged end and a positively charged end. Polar molecules must contain one or more polar bonds due to a difference in electronegativity between the bonded atoms.
Water (H 2 O) is a polar inorganic compound that is at room temperature a tasteless and odorless liquid, which is nearly colorless apart from an inherent hint of blue.It is by far the most studied chemical compound [20] and is described as the "universal solvent" [21] and the "solvent of life". [22]
Model of hydrogen bonds (1) between molecules of water. Because of its polarity, a molecule of water in the liquid or solid state can form up to four hydrogen bonds with neighboring molecules. Hydrogen bonds are about ten times as strong as the Van der Waals force that attracts molecules to each other in most liquids.
In simple terms, the polarity (a state in which a molecule is oppositely charged on its poles) of water molecules allows them to be attracted to each other. The polarity is due to the electronegativity of the atom of oxygen: oxygen is more electronegative than the atoms of hydrogen, so the electrons they share through the covalent bonds are ...
To put this in perspective: the lowest excitation vibrational energy in water is the bending mode (about 1600 cm −1). Thus, at room temperature less than 0.07 percent of all the molecules of a given amount of water will vibrate faster than at absolute zero. As stated above, rotation hardly influences the molecular geometry.
Likewise, larger molecules are generally more polarizable than smaller ones. Water is a very polar molecule, but alkanes and other hydrophobic molecules are more polarizable. Water with its permanent dipole is less likely to change shape due to an external electric field. Alkanes are the most polarizable molecules. [9]
The hydrophobic interaction is mostly an entropic effect originating from the disruption of the highly dynamic hydrogen bonds between molecules of liquid water by the nonpolar solute, causing the water to compensate by forming a clathrate-like cage structure around the non-polar molecules. This structure is more highly ordered than free water ...
For molecules containing lone pairs, the true hybridization of these molecules depends on the amount of s and p characters of the central atom which is related to its electronegativity. "According to Bent's rule , as the substituent electronegativies increase, orbitals of greater p character will be directed towards those groups.