Explain why water is a polar molecule?

Question

A polar molecule is a molecule with an unequal distribution

Answer 1

At first appearance a water molecule doesn't seem that special. It has 2 hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to 1 oxygen atom. But what you should know is that oxygen (electronegativity 3.5) is one of the most electronegative elements 2nd only to fluorine (electronegativity of 4.0). Hydrogen (electronegativity 2.2) is much less electronegative than oxygen. So the large oxygen molecule attracts the electrons of the hydrogen atoms more strongly than the hydrogen atoms can. The electrons end up spending more time near oxygen than near the two hydrogen atoms. This results in oxygen having a slight negative charge while the 2 hydrogen atoms have a slight positive charge. Thus because of the unequal distribution of the electrons in water, it results in it having a dipole movement making it a polar molecule.

Answer 2

The central atom in water is oxygen. The oxygen has 2 lone pairs and 2 hydrogens attached to it. Picture a 3D structure of water. It is going to look like a boomerang sort of. In chemistry we call this "bent"

Because the 2 lone pairs are sticking upward (sorta) and the 2 hydrogens are sicking downard it creates a difference in polar field.

The lone pairs are negetive and the H's are positive. Its like a magnet, one side negetive one side positive.

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:O-H

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H

Answer 3

The oxygen atom is between the the two hydrogens but the angle is less than 180 degrees (V shaped) therefore being asymmetrical the hydrogens tend to not share electrons well (like children) and therefore he molecule is asymmetrically charged, i.e. polar.