Chemistry · Chapter 7

The Electronegativity Dial

Electronegativity is how hard an atom tugs on a shared pair. Pick two atoms, or dial the gap by hand, and watch the shared cloud slide from the middle to one side.

The bond H–Cl

A bond with its shared electron cloud

The cloud marks where the shared pair spends its time.

Where this bond lands ΔEN scale

The nonpolar to ionic scale

The two cutoffs are 0.4 and 1.8. They are road signs on one smooth range, not walls.

Choose your bond

Live numbers

EN of A
2.20
EN of B
3.16
ΔEN
0.96
Ionic character
19 percent
    What you are seeing
    Polar covalent
    The pair leans toward chlorine.