how to find whether a given compound is polar ?

Answer 1

A polar compound will dissolve in a polar or ionic solution (e.g. water), but not conduct (light bulb w/ 2 wires sticking out into the solution will not shine).

Answer 2

if u know the electronegativity values of elements then u can find out whether a given compound/s is/r polar or not.

eg:- chlorine is more electronegative than hydrogen, therefore in hydrochloric acid( HCl ) chlorine attracts the shared electron pair towards itself making the compound polar in which hydrogen and chlorine develop very very small +ve and -ve charges respectively

electronegativity is defined as the tendency of an element to attract electrons.fluorine is the most electronegative element in the periodic table having value 4 on pauling scale.

polar substances dissolve in polar substances like water, HCl etc.

Answer 3

To determine whether a particular molecule is polar, you should start by drawing the Lewis structure for the molecule. Then, consider the electronegativities of the atoms which are bonded to each other. If any of the bonds are polar (if there is a reasonable difference between the atoms' electronegativities) AND if the molecule is not perfectly symmetrical, it will probably be a polar molecule.

Answer 4

compounds are polar if the elements forming the compound have a certain difference in their electronegativity.

you know, all ionic compounds are strongly polar, because they are formed between metal and non metal atoms. metals' electronegativity often counts in -ve values as they are usually electropositive. non metals are often electronegative and having positive values of their electronegativity. so here we find a considerable range of electronegativity difference, for which they form comounds through electron exchange and forming ions. ions act as di-poles in these compounds.

how to identify these compounds:
usually
gr. I A/II A (excluding H)+VI A/VII A (ex- NaCl, CaS, BaO etc.)

now telling about covalent compounds, in this case also polarity is formed due to the electronegativity difference, but the mechanism is different. if the electronegativity difference exceeds 0.5(0.7 by some writers) these compounds will become polar. because the higher electronegative element will attract the shared electron cloud to itself and will become partially negatively charged. the other element will then become partially positive. for these cases its quite a lot important to know the value of electronegativity.

some polar covalent compounds are H2O, NH3, HF, HCl etc.

this is a very generalised analysis, in fact you need to involve other terms like ionisation potential, electron affinity, atomic structure, resonance, net charge density, chemical attraction, hydrogen bond factors etc.

in generalised description about larger molecules, inorganic ones are often polar as they are formes between two oppositely charged radicals, and higher organic chemicals are often non polar and some of them having hallide, cyanide, nitro, hydroxil, carboxil, etc might show a bit of polarity in its structure.

but as i assume your level my earlier analysis should be satisfactory.

Answer 5

a compound with molecules that have a permanent dipole moment like HCL and H2O

Answer 6

Ask a polar bear. If you don't get it check a chemistry book