Which covalent bond is most polar? A H-O B H-F C H-N

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 27, 2018

The most polar covalent bond occurs in the #H-F# molecule....

Explanation:

Polarity refers to charge separation....and electronegativity is conceived to be the ability of an atom involved in a chemical bond to polarize electron density towards itself. There are various scales of electronegativity, and the earliest, and still most widely used scale is the #"Pauling scale"#, which sets the electronegativity of fluorine at #4.0#, of oxygen at #3.5#, of nitrogen at #3.0#, and of hydrogen at #2.2#.

#Delta_"electronegativity"# is a reasonable metric to assess the polarity of the resultant bond...and clearly the greatest electronegativity difference occurs for the #H-F# molecule....

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