Why is Carbon Dioxide (CO2) considered a nonpolar molecule despite having highly polar C=O bonds?
Answer
Because the linear geometry causes the two equal bond dipoles to perfectly cancel each other out.
Molecular polarity depends on the vector sum of individual bond dipoles. In linear CO2, the two opposing dipoles cancel, resulting in no net molecular dipole.
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Bond Polarity, Electronegativity and Dipole Moment - YouTube
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