Is it possible for a molecule to be nonpolar even though it contains polar covalent bonds?

1 Answer
Jan 23, 2017

Absolutely...............

Explanation:

Molecular polarity is conceived to result from the VECTOR sum of the individual bond dipoles. For a molecule such as #CX_4# #("X = halide")#, the individual bond dipoles are polar, due to the difference in electronegativity between carbon and halogen. However, because the vector sum of the #CrarrX# dipoles is ZERO, the molecule is non-polar.

And thus chloroform, #"CHCl"_3# is polar, while #"CCl"_4# is non-polar.