Does CF4 have a polar bond?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-04T02:13:43

${CF}_{4}$ $"CF"_4$ has four polar bonds.

The carbon atom is $s p^{3}$ $sp^3$ hybridized, with the four $C-F$ $"C-F"$ bonds pointing towards the corners of a tetrahedron.

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Each $C-F$ $"C-F"$ bond is polar, because $F$ $"F"$ is much more electronegative than $C$ $"C"$ .

Nevertheless, the ${CF}_{4}$ $"CF"_4$ molecule is nonpolar, because the individual bond dipoles sum to zero.

To see why this is so, let's consider the bond dipoles two at a time.

The two $C-F$ $"C-F"$ bond dipoles that are not in the plane of the paper (the wedge and dash) have a resultant in the plane of the paper.

One resultant

The other two bond dipoles also have a resultant of equal magnitude in the plane of the paper but in the opposite direction.

Two resultants

The two vectors are at 180 ° to each other, and their vector sum is zero.