Determine if the compound of BCl 2 F is polar or nonpolar.

Determine if the compound of BCl2f is polar or nonpolar. Alright. So boron's in group 3 a. Chlorine is in group 7 a, and there's 2 of them, and Fluorine is also in group 7 a. So that's gonna give me 24 total valence electrons. So now, I'm gonna place the least electronegative one in the center which is boron. It's gonna form single bonds to these elements. We place enough electrons around them, so they're following the octet rule. Doing this means that we use all 24 of our valence electrons. So there is no more electrons that we can place anywhere. If If we take a look here, although the central element has no lone pairs, all the surrounding elements are not the same. We have chlorines and fluorine as surrounding elements. Remember, to be a perfect shape, the central element have needs to have 0 lone pairs and all the surrounding elements must be the same. Because of that, this is not a perfect shape and therefore the molecule itself or compound itself is polar.

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10. Chemical Bonding

Molecular Polarity (Simplified)

Introduction to Chemistry

10. Chemical Bonding

Molecular Polarity (Simplified)

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Multiple Choice

Determine if the compound of BCl₂F is polar or nonpolar.

polar

nonpolar

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Verified step by step guidance

Identify the molecular geometry of the compound BCl2F. Boron typically forms three bonds, and with three substituents (two chlorine atoms and one fluorine atom), the geometry is likely trigonal planar.

Consider the electronegativity of the atoms involved. Fluorine is more electronegative than chlorine, which means it will attract the shared electrons more strongly.

Analyze the symmetry of the molecule. In a trigonal planar geometry, if all substituents were the same, the molecule would be nonpolar due to symmetry. However, BCl2F has different substituents.

Evaluate the dipole moments. The difference in electronegativity between boron and fluorine, and boron and chlorine, creates dipole moments. The stronger dipole moment towards fluorine will not be canceled out by the dipole moments towards chlorine.

Conclude based on the dipole moments and molecular geometry. Since the dipole moments do not cancel out due to the presence of different atoms, BCl2F is polar.