Which molecular shape/polarity description is correct forPCl3? (What is the righ

Question

Which molecular shape/polarity description is correct forPCl3? (What is the right answer) A) trigonal planar; polar B) trigonal planar; nonpolar C) trigonal pyrimidal; polar D) trigonal pyrimidal; nonpolar (I know the answer is either C or D, but I am struggling withpolarity - HELP!) Which molecular shape/polarity description is correct forPCl3? (What is the right answer) A) trigonal planar; polar B) trigonal planar; nonpolar C) trigonal pyrimidal; polar D) trigonal pyrimidal; nonpolar (I know the answer is either C or D, but I am struggling withpolarity - HELP!) Which molecular shape/polarity description is correct forPCl3? (What is the right answer) A) trigonal planar; polar B) trigonal planar; nonpolar C) trigonal pyrimidal; polar D) trigonal pyrimidal; nonpolar (I know the answer is either C or D, but I am struggling withpolarity - HELP!)

Explanation / Answer

PCl3 has 4 electron groups, 3 bonding groups and 1 lonepair making its electron geometry tetrahedral and its moleculargeometry trigonal pyramidal. To figure out if the it is polar, we take into account what weknow. First of all, P has a lone pair, and this pair of electronsare only attracted to the P nuclei and thus have a greater freedomof motion. This means that their orbital is bigger and this pushesthe 3 Cl atoms closer together (if P didn't have a lone pair, theangles between Cl atoms would be 360/3 = 120). The angle betweeneach Cl now is 107 and the angle between Cls and P >107degrees. Finally, based on the shape and the electronegativity (Cl is moreelectronegative than P meaning that it tends to hog the electronsthey share closer to itself), PCl3 is polar. The answer would be c. Hope this helps!

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