Why is HF a covalent bond even though the difference in EN value between H and F is 1.9?

Asker: Ann, age 45

Answer

day an,

I refer to my answer to question number question 21285 target=”_blank” title=”Ionic character”>21285, where a similar problem was posed. Every bond between two atoms has a certain ionic and covalent character. If we calculate the percentage of ionic character for HF we arrive at 59.4%. This means that the covalent character of this bond is 100-59.4 = 40.6%. This bond is thus mainly ionic.

Why is HF a covalent bond even though the difference in EN value between H and F is 1.9?

Answered by

Dr Etienne Jooken

Chemistry

Catholic University of Leuven
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/

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