When two different types of atom are bonded together, they do not share

their bond electrons equally. This is because each type of atom possesses its
own charge environment, which produces an atoms electronegativity.
Electronegativity is a measure of the tendency of an atom to attract a
bonding pair of electrons.
the term "electronegativity" was introduced by Jns Jacob Berzelius in 1811,
For example:

Sodium seeks to give an electron to become a positive ion, Na. It has

a very low electronegativity.

Iodine wants to gain an electron to become a negative ion, I . It has a

relatively high electronegativity.

An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the

distance at which its valence electrons reside from the charged nucleus. The
higher the associated electronegativity number, the more an element or
compound attracts electrons towards it.
Variation along the period
Due to the increased nuclear charge across the period, the electronegative
or non-metallic character increases in going from left to right in a period.
Variation down the group
Due to the increased atomic size the non-metallic or electronegative
character decreases as we go down the group.
Electronegativity is however not the property of an isolated atom.

Factors Affecting Electronegativity

Atomic size
As the size of the atom decreases it has greater tendency to attract the
bonding electrons towards itself. Therefore smaller atoms have higher
electronegativity values than the larger ones.
Ionisation energy and electron affinity
Higher Ionisation energy and electron affinity lead to higher electronegativity.
Number and nature of atoms

The electronegativity depends on the number and nature of atoms bonded to

it.
Type of hybridization
The electronegativity increases with the increase in 's' character in the
hybrid orbital. This is because the 's' orbitals being more near to the nucleus
have greater tendency to attract the shared pair of electron.
Charge on the ion
A cation has high electronegativity while an anion has less electronegativity
than its parent atom. A cation with a higher positive charge is more
electronegative.
Atomic structure is the core of chemistry. Atomic structure is the study of the
structure of an atom, and also the sub atomic particles present in it.
Atomic size is the distance from the nucleus to the valence shell where
the valence electrons are located.
Atomic size is difficult to measure because it has no definite boundary.
The electrons surrounding the nucleus exist in an electron cloud
Atomic radius is a more definite and measureable way of defining atomic
size. It is the distance from the center of one atom to the center of another
atom in a homonuclear diatomic molecule.
There are three factors that help in the prediction of the trends in the
Periodic Table: number of protons in the nucleus, number of shells, and
shielding effect.
The atomic size increases from the top to the bottom in any group as a
result of increases in all of the three factors. (As the number of energy levels
increases, the size must increase.)
Going across a period (from left to right), the number of protons increases
and therefore the nuclear charge increases. (Going across a period, the
number of electron energy levels remains the same but the number of
electrons increases within these energy levels. Therefore the electrons are
pulled in closer to the nucleus.)
The electronegative elements all form anions and they may form entities
that interact via lone-pairs of electrons. Anions and electron lone pairs are
associated with Lewis base behaviour.
What Is the Most Electronegative Element?
Answer: Fluorine is the most electronegative element. Fluorine has an
electronegativity of 3.98 on the Pauling Electronegativity Scale and a valence
of 1. A fluorine atom needs one electron to fill its outer electron shell and
achieve stability, which is why free fluorine exists as the F- ion. Other highly
electronegative elements are oxygen and chlorine. The element hydrogen

does not have as high of an electronegativity because, although it has a halffilled shell, it readily loses an electron rather than gains one.
What if two atoms of equal electronegativity bond together?
Consider a bond between two atoms, A and B. If the atoms are equally
electronegative, both have the same tendency to attract the bonding pair of
electrons, and so it will be found on average half way between the two
atoms:

To get a bond like this, A and B would usually have to be the same atom. You
will find this sort of bond in, for example, H2 or Cl2 molecules
What if B is slightly more electronegative than A?
B will attract the electron pair rather more than A does.

That means that the B end of the bond has more than its fair share of
electron density and so becomes slightly negative. At the same time, the A
end (rather short of electrons) becomes slightly positive. In the diagram, "
" (read as "delta") means "slightly" - so + means "slightly positive".
An important application of electronegativity is in the prediction of the
polarity of a chemical bond. Because hydrogen has an electrognegativity of
2.1 and chlorine has an electronegativity of 3.0, they would be expected to
form a polar molecule with the chlorine being the negative side of the dipole.
The difference between the electronegativities of Na(0.9) and Cl(3.0) are so
great that they form an ionic bond. The hydrogen molecule on the other
hand, with zero electronegativty difference, becomes the classic example of
a covalent bond.
After fluorine, oxygen is the next highest in electronegativity at 3.44, and
this has enormous consequences in practice. Since oxygen is the most
abundant element on the Earth, its high chemical activity makes it a part of
most common substances. It's electronegativity leads to the polar nature of
the water molecule and contributes to the remarkable properties of water.
Polar Bonds
When atoms of different electronegativities form a bond, the electrons tend
to be more controlled by the atom with the higher electronegativity.
The resulting bond is a dipole it has a slight negative charge on the
higher electronegativity side, and a slight positive charge on the other end.

This type of bond is called a polar bond. Examples of polar bonded

molecules include hydrochloric acid (HCl) and water (H2O).
Polar Molecules
Not all molecules with polar bonds are polar molecules. To be a polar
molecule, the entire molecule must be a dipole it must have slightly
positive and slightly negative ends.
Hydrochloric acid is a polar molecule, since it has positive and negative ends.
Beryllium fluoride (BeF2), however, is not a polar molecule while containing
two polar bonds, it has two positive ends. (See the illustration in the tutorial
above for more details.)
Hydrogen Bonds
When hydrogen fors a polar molecule with nitrogen, oxygen, or fluorine (all
highly electronegative elements), the resulting molecule tends to be slightly
positive on the hydrogen side.
The electrostatic bond between this positive hydrogen side of the molecule
and other negative ions or polar molecules is called a hydrogen bond.
Non-Polar Bonds
When atoms of similar electronegativities share electrons to form a covalent
bond, the shared electrons tend to be evenly controlled by both atoms. The
resulting bond is evenly charged on all sides, and is said to be a pure nonpolar covalent bond.
An example of this is nitrogen gas (N2).
Polar molecules
Chemical bonding is the result of either an atom sharing one or more outer
orbit electrons with another atom or an atom taking outer orbit electrons
from the atom with which it is bonding. Normally, an atom has an even
distribution of electrons in the orbits or shells, but if more end up on one side
that the other in a molecule, there can be a resulting electrical field in that
area.
Water is polar
Water is a polar molecule because of the way the atoms bind in the molecule
such that there are excess electrons on the Oxygen side and a lack or excess

of positive charges on the Hydrogen side of the molecule.

Water is a polar molecule with positive charges

on one side and negative on the other
Examples of polar molecules
Examples of polar molecules of materials that are gases under standard
conditions are:

Ammonia (NH3)

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S).

Also, Ethanol is polar, since its oxygen molecule draws electrons towards it
due to its high electro-negativity, causing a negative charge around itself.
Non-polar molecules
A non-polar molecule is one that the electrons are distributed more
symmetrically and thus does not have an abundance of charges at the
opposite sides. The charges all cancel out each other.

The electrical charges in non-polar Carbon Dioxide are evenly distributed

Examples of non-polar liquids
Most hydrocarbon liquids are non-polar molecules. Examples include:

Toluene

Gasoline

Alkynes are non-polar because they cannot be dissolved in water, as do polar

molecules. However, alkynes but do dissolve in other non-polar substances.
A rule is that like substances dissolve in like substances.
(See Hydrocarbon Bonding for more information.)
Examples of non-polar gases
Common examples of non-polar gases are the noble or inert gases, including:

Helium (He)

Neon (Ne)

Krypton (Kr)

Xenon (Xe)

Other non-polar gases include:

Hydrogen (H2)

Nitrogen (N2)

Oxygen (O2)

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Methane (CH4)

Ethylene (C2H4)

Since Chloroform is more soluble in fats than in water, it is also classified as

non-polar.