The bond between which two atoms has the greatest degree of polarity in the following molecule?

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1 Answer
anor277
Jan 4, 2017

Between the oxygen and the hydrogen......

Explanation:

And how do we assess this? Probably the best metric is by "electronegativity values", for which various scales are available, and which is conceived to be the ability of an atom in a chemical bond to polarize electron density towards itself.

Pauling electronegativity of oxygen is 3.44, of hydrogen, 2.20, and of carbon, 2.55. Given these values, the C-O bond is LESS polar, less charge separated, than the O-H bond. This makes sense in that we know that the water molecule, which features O-H bonds, is a highly polar molecule. Alcohols, which feature O-H bonds, generally have some solubility in water.

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