Question

The direction of dipole moment is_______.

Answer 1

Dipole moment

• A dipole moment is an entity that arises due to charge separation in a compound
• It can arise in both ionic bonds and covalent bonds as well.
• This is due to the difference in electronegativity between two chemically bonded atoms.
• The measure of the polarity of a chemical bond between two atoms in a molecule is known as the bond dipole moment.
• It is denoted by $\mathrm{\mu }$.
• The measure of the separation of negative and positive charges in a system is called the electric dipole moment.
• Two partial electric charges represented by symbols 𝛿⁺ and 𝛿^– are equal in magnitude but are of opposite signs.
• They are separated by a distance denoted by d.

Example: Dipole moment of H₂O

• As the oxygen atom is highly electronegative as compared to a hydrogen atom, thus electron pair is shifted towards it.
• But the presence of a lone pair of electrons in the oxygen atom, causes the water molecule to bend.

• Thus the bond angle in a water molecule is $104.5°$ .
• The individual bond dipole moment of an oxygen-hydrogen bond is $1.5\mathrm{D}$.
• The net dipole moment in a water molecule is found to be $1.84\mathrm{D}.$

Hence, the direction of the dipole moment is from negative to positive charge.