Question #497ee
1 Answer
Aug 26, 2015
Practically, by testing if they are either soluble in water or in non-polar solvents, like benzene.
Explanation:
The most simple test is checking whether the molecule can dissolve in polar solvents, like water (which means it is polar) or in non-polar solvents, like benzene (which means is non polar).
However you can also predict if the molecule will be polar or not. For that we should check if the molecule has strong partial charges and the arrangement of those partial charges create privileged directions. In such a case, this will make the molecule to exhibit a strong dipolar moment, making it polar.
