Question 15

Although both CO2 and H2O are triatomic molecules, the shape of H2O molecule is bent while that of CO2 is linear. Explain this on the basis of dipole moment.

Answer

Dipole moment is the product of the magnitude of the positive or negative charge (q) and the distance (d) between the charges, i.e.



μ = q x d.

The SI unit is coulomb metre. The molecule with symmetrical and linear geometries have zero dipole moment because they are vector in nature and the dipole of different bonds cancel with one another. CO2 is symmetrical and has dipole moment 0. Therefore it will have a linear shape with bond angle 180°.

Resultant μ = 0 D

 

H2O is a unsymmetrical molecule and bent geometries, the geometries have specific dipole moment (1.84D) because the bond polarities do not cancel each other. Therefore H2O will have a bent structure with bond angle 104°.

 

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