Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Polar molecule
A commonly-used example of a polar compound is water (H2O). The electrons of water's hydrogen atoms are strongly attracted to the oxygen atom, and are actually closer to oyxgen's nucleus than to the hydrogen nuclei; thus, water has a relatively strong negative charge in the middle (red shade), and a positive charge at the ends (blue shade).
In chemistry, a polar molecule is a molecule in which the centers of positive and negative charge distribution do not converge. These molecules are characterized by a dipole moment which measures their polarity.
Polar compounds are highly soluble in other polar compounds, and virtually insoluble in nonpolar compounds.
See Also
See also: dipole, nonpolar, hydrophilic, hydrophobic.
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details