{"id":39965,"date":"2025-06-27T11:44:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T11:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=39965"},"modified":"2025-06-27T11:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T11:44:41","slug":"explain-how-to-determine-if-the-compound-boron-tribromide-bbr3-is-an-ionic-polar-or-non-polar-compound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/explain-how-to-determine-if-the-compound-boron-tribromide-bbr3-is-an-ionic-polar-or-non-polar-compound\/","title":{"rendered":"Explain how to determine if the compound, boron tribromide, BBr3 is an ionic, polar or non-polar compound."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Explain how to determine if the compound, boron tribromide, BBr3 is an ionic, polar or non-polar compound. Include a Lewis Structure in your answer, as well as a clear explanation. (b) Is the B-Br bond polar or nonpolar? (circle one) Explain how to determine if the B-Br bond in the following compound, BBr3 is ionic, polar or nonpolar. (c) Does this compound, boron tribromide dissolve in water? Yes or No and explain Show work please<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine whether boron tribromide (BBr\u2083) is ionic, polar, or nonpolar, we follow a few key steps: drawing the Lewis structure, analyzing bond polarity, and assessing the overall molecular polarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(a) Lewis Structure and Molecular Polarity:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start by drawing the <strong>Lewis structure<\/strong> for BBr\u2083:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Boron (B)<\/strong> has 3 valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bromine (Br)<\/strong> has 7 valence electrons, and there are 3 Br atoms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Total valence electrons = 3 (B) + 3 \u00d7 7 (Br) = 24 electrons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">lessCopyEdit<code>      Br\n       |\nBr \u2014 B \u2014 Br\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Each Br atom forms a single bond with the central B atom. Boron has only 6 electrons around it, which is an exception to the octet rule and is acceptable for elements like B. Each Br completes its octet with lone pairs (not shown above for simplicity).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>molecular shape<\/strong> is <strong>trigonal planar<\/strong>, and because all three B-Br bonds are equivalent and 120\u00b0 apart, their dipoles cancel out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>: The molecule is <strong>nonpolar overall<\/strong>, despite having polar bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(b) Is the B-Br bond polar or nonpolar?<\/strong><br><strong>Answer<\/strong>: <strong>Polar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation<\/strong>: To determine the bond polarity, compare the <strong>electronegativity values<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Boron: ~2.0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bromine: ~2.8<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference is about <strong>0.8<\/strong>, which indicates a <strong>polar covalent bond<\/strong>. The electrons are shared unequally, with the bromine being more electronegative and pulling the bonding electrons closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, since the BBr\u2083 molecule is <strong>symmetrical<\/strong>, the individual dipoles of the B\u2013Br bonds cancel out, making the molecule <strong>nonpolar<\/strong> overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(c) Does BBr\u2083 dissolve in water?<\/strong><br><strong>Answer<\/strong>: <strong>Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation<\/strong>: BBr\u2083 is a <strong>reactive covalent compound<\/strong>. It <strong>hydrolyzes<\/strong> (reacts with water) rather than just dissolving. When mixed with water, it forms <strong>boric acid (H\u2083BO\u2083)<\/strong> and <strong>hydrobromic acid (HBr)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reaction<\/strong>:<br>BBr\u2083 + 3H\u2082O \u2192 B(OH)\u2083 + 3HBr<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This reaction releases hydrogen bromide, making the solution acidic. Though BBr\u2083 is nonpolar as a molecule, its <strong>reactivity<\/strong> with water allows it to effectively &#8220;dissolve&#8221; by chemical reaction, not simple solvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong>:<br>(a) BBr\u2083 is a <strong>nonpolar covalent compound<\/strong>.<br>(b) Each <strong>B\u2013Br bond is polar<\/strong> due to electronegativity difference.<br>(c) BBr\u2083 <strong>reacts with water<\/strong>, so it <strong>does dissolve<\/strong>, forming acids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"852\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1201.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39966\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1201.jpeg 852w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1201-250x300.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1201-768x923.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explain how to determine if the compound, boron tribromide, BBr3 is an ionic, polar or non-polar compound. Include a Lewis Structure in your answer, as well as a clear explanation. (b) Is the B-Br bond polar or nonpolar? (circle one) Explain how to determine if the B-Br bond in the following compound, BBr3 is ionic, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39967,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39965\/revisions\/39967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}