Back to Chapter 05 · The Bonding Blueprint
Why the pulls cancel in CO2 but not water
A polar bond is only part of the story. The molecule’s shape decides whether the bond dipoles cancel.
Schematic teaching diagram · labels and text explain each state.
Read the sequence
- Choose a molecule and predict whether its bond dipoles cancel.
- In CO₂, each chemical dipole arrow points from carbon toward oxygen. The equal, opposite arrows cancel.
- In H₂O, each arrow points from hydrogen toward oxygen. Their sideways components cancel, but their other components add.
- Rotate the entire molecule. Its net dipole rotates with it; rotating a molecule does not change whether it is polar.
About this model. Arrows use the chemical convention: the crossed tail is the partial-positive end and the arrowhead points toward the partial-negative end. δ signs indicate partial charges, not whole ion charges. Arrow lengths show vector addition, not measured dipole magnitudes.