Question

What is the difference between molecular dipoles, and an ionic interaction?

Answer 1

Well, a dipole refers to charge separation....

Explanation:

...whereas in an ionic compound, the charges are SO FAR separated that we get individual ions....

`stackrel(delta^+)H-stackrel(delta""^(-))Cl`...is a molecule...and across the covalent bond, the chlorine atom polarizes electron density towards itself...and the result is a molecular dipole...

On the other hand in `Na^+Cl^(-)` there are discrete `Na^+` and `Cl^-` ions....and no suggesting of a covalency, i.e, sharing of electron density...