1. Electronegativity differences give us a sense of a bond's polarity. Which of the following bonds would you expect to be most nonpolar: C-O, C-Si, C-B, or C-S?
Answer
my first anwer was C-O
C-B
C-S
my answer C-Si
can you explain a little further on what they mean by most nonpolar please.
The electronegativity gives an indication of how much the atom attracts electrons. When the difference is relatively high (as in HF; H is about 2.1 and F about 4.0; the difference is about 3 which means the electrons reside closer to the F atom than they do to the H atom; therefore, F carries a slightly negative charge and the H a slightly positive charge. That makes a dipole of the HF molecule. A dipole is just a molecule with one end slightly positive and the other end slightly negative. A non-polar bond is one in which the electrons are shared more equally and there is no separation of charge. NtriplebondN, for example, would be a non-polar molecule because the N atoms share their electrons equally; i.e., there is no difference in their electronegativity. For this question you want the EN to be as close to zero as you can get it to be completely non-polar. So I think the answer is between B-C and C-Si and I would pick C-Si as you did.
