Determine whether SF2 is ionic, polar covalent, or nonpolar covalent. State and explain whether water or carbon tetrachloride would be a better solvent for dissolving this solute. | Homework.Study.com (2024)
Determine whether {eq}SF_2{/eq} is ionic, polar covalent, or nonpolar covalent. State and explain whether water or carbon tetrachloride would be a better solvent for dissolving this solute.
Two atoms can form a lasting attraction through a covalent or ionic bond. If the atoms are from different elements, then the resulting particle is termed a covalent or ionic chemical compound respectively. The type of bonding can be predicted from the constituent atoms present and their location in the periodic table. If the compound is covalent, then it will exist in a certain representative molecule that may have a net dipole moment. This means that the molecule possesses both polar covalent bonds (partial charge separation) and a molecular geometry that does not cancel out the individual polar bond dipole moments.
Each "S-F" bond is polar because fluorine is more electronegative than sulfur. The sulfur difluoride molecule itself is also polar due to the bent geometry. Therefore, this is a polar covalent compound. Based on this property, water (polar) will be a better solvent choice.
How can you tell if a covalent bond is polar or nonpolar? Covalent bonds that are polar have an unequal sharing of a pair of electrons.This would be determined by an electronegativity difference of the two elements falling between 0.4 and 1.7. Non-polar bonds have less than 0.4 electronegativity difference.
Water is a polar solvent hence, it will dissolve the polar compounds.Carbon tetrachloride is a non-polar solvent hence, it will dissolve the non-polar compounds.
MgF2: This is a polar ionic compound, so it would dissolve better in water. CH2O (Formaldehyde): This is a polar molecule, so it would dissolve better in water. CH2=CH2 (Ethylene): This is a nonpolar molecule, so it would dissolve better in carbon tetrachloride.
Water is a polar compound. Thus, it is a good solvent for polar and ionic solutes. Carbon tetrachloride is a non-polar compound because the vectors for the dipole moment of the C-Cl bonds cancel out.Thus, it is a good solvent for non-polar solutes.
(If the difference in electronegativity for the atoms in a bond is greater than 0.4, we consider the bond polar. If the difference in electronegativity is less than 0.4, the bond is essentially nonpolar.) If there are no polar bonds, the molecule is nonpolar.
As a general rule of thumb, compounds that involve a metal binding with either a non-metal or a semi-metal will display ionic bonding. Compounds that are composed of only non-metals or semi-metals with non-metals will display covalent bonding and will be classified as molecular compounds.
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