Water is a polar molecule because of what property?

• A. Unequal sharing of electrons
• B. Equal sharing of electrons
• C. Ionic bonding
• D. Metallic bonding

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that polarity comes from how electrons are shared between atoms. In water, the bonds between hydrogen and oxygen are covalent, but the electrons aren’t shared equally because oxygen is more electronegative than hydrogen. This pulls electron density toward the oxygen, giving it a partial negative charge, while the hydrogens get partial positive charges. The molecule’s bent shape then means these partial charges don’t cancel out, so water has a net dipole moment and is polar. If the electrons were shared equally, the bond would be nonpolar and water wouldn’t be polar. Ionic or metallic bonding describes different kinds of bonding that don’t apply to a single water molecule.