What are polar and non polar solvents?

Answer 1

The vast majority of chemical reactions are performed in solution. The solvent fulfills several functions during a chemical reaction. It solvates the reactans and reagents so that they dissolve. This facilitates collisions between the reactant(s) and reagents that must occur in order to transform the reactant(s) to product(s). The solvent also provides a means of temperature control, either to increase the energy of the colliding particles so that they will react more quickly, or to absorb heat that is generated during an exothermic reaction. The selection of an appropriate solvent is guided by theory and experience. Generally a good solvent should meet the following criteria.

It should be inert to the reaction conditions.
It should dissolve the reactants and reagents.
It should have an appropriate boiling point.
It should be easily removed at the end of the reaction.
The second criterion invokes the adage "Like dissolves like". Non-polar reactants will dissolve in non-polar solvents. Polar reactants will dissolve in polar solvents. For our purposes there are three measures of the polarity of a solvent:

Dipole moment
Dielectric constant
Miscibility with water
Molecules with large dipole moments and high dielectric constants are considered polar. Those with low dipole moments and small dielectric constants are classified as non-polar. On an operational basis, solvents that are miscible with water are polar, while those that are not are non-polar; remember the saying "Oil and water don't mix".

Chemists have classified solvents into three categories according to their polarity.

polar protic
dipolar aprotic
non-polar.
Polar Protic Solvents
Let's start with the meaning of the adjective protic. In the context used here, protic refers to a hydrogen atom attached to an electronegative atom. For our purposes that electronegative atom is almost exclusively oxygen. In other words, polar protic solvents are compounds that can be represented by the general formula ROH. The polarity of the polar protic solvents stems from the bond dipole of the O-H bond. The large difference in electronegativities of the oxygen and the hydrogen atom, combined with the small size of the hydrogen atom, warrant separating molecules that contain an OH group from those polar compounds that do not. Examples of polar protic solvents are water (HOH), methanol (CH3OH), and acetic acid (CH3CO2H).

Dipolar Aprotic Solvents
Here the key word is aprotic. In the context used here, aprotic describes a molecule that does not contain an O-H bond. Solvents in this class all contain a bond that has a large bond dipole. Typically this bond is a multiple bond between carbon and either either oxygen or nitrogen. Most dipolar aprotic solvents contain a C-O double bond. Examples are acetone [(CH3)2C=O] and ethyl acetate (CH3CO2CH2CH3).

Non-Polar Solvents
Non-polar solvents are compounds that have low dielecrtic constants and are not miscible with water. Examples include benzene (C6H6), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), and diethyl ether ( CH3CH2OCH2CH3).

Answer 2

The adjective "polar" refers to the fact that a molecule (in this case of a solvent) has an electrical "polarity", which means it has one side that is more positively charged than the opposite one.
For example, if you take...water: the molecule is not symmetric - on one side you have the hydrogen atoms and on the other the oxygen atom. When those atoms are together to form the water molecule, electrons are more biased toward the oxygen atom side, leaving the hydrogen atoms somewhat positively charged. It is not an ionic bond but you can see how hydrogen tends to positively charge similarly to that, even if less.
On the contrary, oxygen tends to take a bit more of the negative electron charge. So the water molecule is a "polar" one because it has somewhat of an electrical dipole, positive at one end, negative at the other one.
Similarly alcohols are polar, with their non-symmetric molecules.
An example of a non-polar solvent instead is benzene. It is a perfectly symmetric ring, so it is very easy to understadn: how could it be polar anywhere? No side of its molecule is different than any other side, and the molecule is perfecly un-biased and not polar.
Hope it helps.

Answer 3

Most salts and liquids dissolve in a polar solvent ex:water None or few salts dissolve in a non polar solvent ex:ethanol.

Answer 4

polar solvents, like water, are solvents that allow ionization of the solute in the dissolving medium. these solutions will conduct electricity and have positively and negatively charged ions in the solution.
Non polar solvents are pure solutions of compounds without ionization of the solute. A fat substance dissolved in ethyl ether would be an example or vitamin D dissolved in vegetable oil would be another example

Answer 5

Polar solvents have a ion attraction, water is an example.
Non-polar solvents have a covalent attraction, like petroleum.

Answer 6

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Elements that exist toward the top-right hand corner of your periodic table are strongly electronegative; that is, they will tend to draw electron density toward them. Where you have a carbon-flourine bond for example, the electrons will tend to gravitate toward the flourine atom, since it is the most electronegative element. Where there is a difference in the density of electrons at one end of a bond compared to another, it is a POLAR bond. Where there is little or no electronegativity difference, i.e. in carbon-carbon bonds, carbon-hydrogen bonds, you have a NON POLAR interaction. Polar solvents include Water, ethanol, formaldehyde and chloroform Non polar solvents include pyridine, toluene, hexane, and most other carbon compounds

Answer 7

polar solvents are electronegative, meaning it has a slightly positive and a slightly negative end, where it attracts other polar solvents easily.

non polar is not electronegative, so the shape of the electron cloud is evenly dispersed in the molecule.

Answer 8

Water is polar; the bend in the water molecules generates a charge separation which can help polar solutes dissolve. Gasoline is non-polar.