Why are most organic molecules non-polar?

1 Answer
Ernest Z. · Media Owl
May 14, 2015

Most hydrocarbons are nonpolar, because #"C-H"# bonds are nonpolar.

But there are many more organic compounds that contain functional groups like #"Cl"#, #"OH"#, #"COOH"#, #"C≡N"#, #"NH"_2#, #"NO"_2#, etc.

Atoms like #"O"#, #"N"#, and #"Cl"# are all more electronegative than #"C"#, so they all have polar bonds.

Non-polar and polar molecules from universe-review.ca

Unless the bond dipoles cancel, the molecules will be polar as well.

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