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Dipole Moment (Simplified) definitions

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  • Electronegativity
    A measurement of an element's ability to attract electrons, increasing across a period and up a group, with fluorine as the highest.
  • Linus Pauling
    An American chemist who proposed the scale used to compare how strongly elements attract electrons in bonds.
  • Periodic Trend
    A predictable pattern in properties, such as increasing electron-attracting ability from left to right and bottom to top in the table.
  • Dipole Moment
    A measure of bond polarity resulting from unequal electron sharing due to a significant difference in electron-attracting ability.
  • Polarity
    The unequal sharing of electrons in a bond, leading to regions of partial positive and negative charge.
  • Partial Charge
    A slight electrical charge on atoms in a bond, indicated by delta symbols, resulting from unequal electron distribution.
  • Dipole Arrow
    A symbol pointing sopposite the positive end in a bond, showing the direction of electron pull toward the more electron-attracting atom.
  • Pure Covalent Bond
    A connection between atoms with identical electron-attracting abilities, resulting in equal electron sharing.
  • Nonpolar Covalent Bond
    A connection where atoms have a small difference in electron-attracting ability, causing nearly equal electron sharing.
  • Polar Covalent Bond
    A connection where atoms have a moderate difference in electron-attracting ability, causing unequal electron sharing and partial charges.
  • Ionic Bond
    A connection formed when the difference in electron-attracting ability is so large that electrons are fully transferred, creating ions.
  • Cation
    A positively charged particle formed when an atom loses electrons, often seen in highly polar or ionic connections.
  • Anion
    A negatively charged particle formed when an atom gains electrons, typically present in highly polar or ionic connections.
  • Electron Cloud
    A region around an atom where electrons are likely to be found, its size influenced by the atom's electron-attracting ability.
  • Delta EN
    The numerical difference between the electron-attracting abilities of two bonded atoms, used to predict bond type.