Chlorate anion is the chemical name of ClO3- where the oxidation state of the chlorine atom is +5. The chemical compounds that contain ClO3- anion are referred to as chlorate.
The compounds formed by chlorate anion are mostly salt. Potassium chlorate (KClO3), sodium chlorate
(NaClO3), magnesium chlorate Mg(ClO3)2 are some of the examples of chlorate
salts. They are relatively toxic but mostly form harmless chloride after
reduction.
In the laboratory,
metal chlorates are prepared by heating metal hydroxides with chlorine.
2 Cl2 + 6 KOH → 5 KCl + KClO3 + 3 H2O
Here in
this article, we are going to discuss the polarity of chlorate anion, whether
it is polar or nonpolar but before that get some ideas about what polar and
nonpolar molecules are:
Polar Molecule
If there are
polar bonds present within the molecule and the induced charges on each bond
are not canceling each other, there is a net dipole charge on the molecule. Such
molecules are called polar molecules.
Some of the
examples of polar molecules are Hydrogen chloride (HCl), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Ammonia (NH3), Water (H2O), etc.
Nonpolar Molecule
Nonpolar
molecules are defined as the molecules that have a net dipole moment zero. If there
are no charge induced on the molecule and the molecule contains covalent bonds
are called nonpolar molecules.
Some of the
examples of nonpolar molecules are Methane (CH4), Carbon dioxide (CO2), Homonuclear
diatomic molecules (H2, N2, F2, Cl2, etc.)
Checkout:
Difference Between Polar & Nonpolar Molecules With Examples [In Detailed].
So, Is
ClO3- polar or nonpolar? ClO3- is a polar molecule despite Cl-O bonds are
nonpolar in nature because the molecular geometry of chlorate anion is trigonal
pyramidal which is not a symmetrical structure so that the induced individual Cl-O
polar charges do not cancel each other as well as it has already one negative
charge presented on the molecule.
ClO3- Polar or Nonpolar (Detailed Explanation)
These are
some of the major aspects on which polarity of the molecules are used to
determine:
Electronegativity difference
Electronegativity
is a tendency of an atom to attract sharing pairs of electrons. Higher the
electronegativity value, the atom will be more powerful to attract shared pair of electrons
which results in the induction of partial positive and negative charges at the end.
According
to the Pauli scale, if the electronegativity difference between two atoms in a molecule is higher than 0.4, it will be a nonpolar bond.
In the ClO3-,
the Cl-O bonds are considered nonpolar because the electronegativity
difference between oxygen (3.44) and chlorine (3.16) is 0.28 but it has already
a negative charge present which makes it a polar molecule.
Lewis Structure of ClO3-
Lewis dot
structure of any molecule is defined as a simple pictorial representation of the total
valence shell electrons present on the molecule. It helps to determine
structure, shape, bond nature, polarity, and many more aspects of the particular
compound.
ClO3- has a
total of 26 valence electrons; 7 of chlorine, 18 of three oxygen, and 1 of the negative charge which is used to make Lewis dot structure.
Molecular Geometry of ClO3-
Molecular geometry
is the stable shape of the molecule in which molecules exist. It shows how
the molecules exist which helps to determine different physical and
chemical properties of the molecules.
ClO3- has a trigonal pyramidal geometry due to the presence of 1 lone pair of electrons on central Cl atom and three σ (sigma) bonds within the molecule. This means chlorate anions molecules are not symmetrical and so their induced polarity charges are also do not cancel.
Dipole Moment of ClO3-
Dipole
moment is defined as the product of induced charge (Q) and the distance between the
atoms (d).
Dipole moment
= Charge(Q) * distance between atoms (d)
Dipole moment
is a vector quantity. This is the major aspects for any compound to be polar or
nonpolar. If the molecule has zero dipole moment, that will be nonpolar and if
has a value, it will be polar.
In the case
of ClO3-, the dipole moment can’t be zero as the molecule does not have a symmetrical
structure. This is one of the major reasons why chlorate anions are polar in
nature.
Conclusion
ClO3- is a
polar molecule as it has a trigonal pyramidal shape which means the molecule is not
symmetrical so that the induced charges on either end of the Cl-O bond are not canceled,
and the molecule has a net dipole moment.
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