different depending on the other atoms stuck to it. For example, a C-C bond will be nonpolar if both carbons have the same atoms attached, but if one of the carbon atoms has three fluorine atoms, the highly electronegative fluorine atoms will cause that carbon to pull strongly on the C-C bonding electrons. This is fairly important in organic chemistry, but you’re not likely to see it in high school.
- These numbers are more-or-less arbitrary, and you may see different values cited by different sources. This takes place because polarity is a continuum where some things can be a little polar while others can be a lot polar. The cutoff between a little and a lot is arbitrary, so when people cite different numbers they’re both basically right.
- Fish: Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
- Rotating water molecule: By Darekk2 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons.
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