AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Phosphorus has an electronegativity value of 2.1. Chlorine’s electronegativity value is 3.0. What type of bond will these two elements form? ionic bond.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to the Pauling scale, the electronegativity of phosphorus is 2.19, and the electronegativity of chlorine is 3.16. Thus, the difference in electronegativity is 0.97. Thus, the bond between phosphorus and chlorine is polar covalent.

Detailed explanation-3: -Although there are no hard and fast rules, the general rule is if the difference in electronegativities is less than about 0.4, the bond is considered nonpolar; if the difference is greater than 0.4, the bond is considered polar.

Detailed explanation-4: -A non-polar covalent bond is a type of chemical bond that is formed when electrons are shared equally between two atoms. Thus, in an atom, the number of electrons shared by the adjacent atoms will be the same. The covalent bond is also termed as nonpolar because the difference in electronegativity is mostly negligible.