Question

Which has the maximum dipole moment?
A. $C{{H}_{4}}$
B. $C{{H}_{3}}F$
C. $C{{H}_{2}}{{F}_{2}}$
D. $CH{{F}_{3}}$

Answer 1

Hint: A dipole moment can be shown when there is a separation of charges in any system. Therefore we can say that dipole moment arises in ionic bonds as well as in covalent bonds. Dipole moments also occur due to the difference in electronegativity between two chemically bonded atoms.

Complete step by step answer:
A bond dipole moment generally measures the polarity of a chemical bond between two atoms in a molecule. It introduces the concept of electric dipole moment which is generally used to measure the separation of negative and positive charges in a system. Dipole moment is a vector quantity i.e. it has both magnitude as well as direction. Due to the property of a vector quantity it can also be zero as two oppositely charged bond dipoles can cancel each other.
As we considered that dipole moment is generally dependent on the electronegativity’s value and we know that out of all the halogens $F$ is highly electronegative in nature and highest the electronegativity highest is the dipole moment so in the above options the one which have higher number of fluorine atoms higher is the dipole moment.

Thus we can say that option D is the correct answer.

Note: A dipole moment can be calculated as the product of the magnitude of the charge and the distance between the centers of the positive and negative charges. It is represented by the Greek letter $\mu $. Mathematically it is represented as: $\mu =Q\times r$ where Q is charged and d is distance.