Use the chart to determine which atom in the carbon–chlorine bond is assigned the delta negative charge.

Question

Elements	Electronegativity
aluminum (Al)	1.61
calcium (Ca)	1
carbon (C)	2.55
chlorine (Cl)	3.16
fluorine (F)	4
hydrogen (H)	2.2
iron (Fe)	1.83
nitrogen (N)	3.04
oxygen (O)	3.44
phosphorus (P)	2.19
potassium (K)	0.82
silicon (Si)	1.9
sulfur (S)	2.58

A. 

carbon atom

B. 

chlorine atom

C. 

neither atom

D. 

both atoms

Answer 1

So Sarah L.,

As you know, or should be able to deduce from reviewing the table, electronegativity refers to the ability of an atom to pull at electrons in a covalent bond. So, fluorine is best at that, followed by oxygen, chlorine, and nitrogen. Carbon is somewhat further down in the list, and alkali metals are very weak. So, between carbon and chlorine, chlorine is the atom that gets the proportional electron cloud, the δ- label, and carbon, the δ+ label.

This has effects on the physical properties of the resulting molecule with that bond in. Polar bonds (those that have a dipole moment) can contribute to making a polar molecule (and will, unless symmetry cancels the net polarity out), which results in a material with higher melting and boiling points, and better dissolution ability for other polar molecules and ionic solids. The prime example of this is the molecule water, which, if it lacked hydrogen bonding (a particular type of polar attraction) would be a gas way below room temperature; life on Earth would never have evolved!

-- Just sayin. -- Cheers, --Mr. d.