Electronegativity & Polarity | Covalent Bonding and Molecular Structure

General Chemistry 1 - Electronegativity & Polarity

Explain why CO has a small bond dipole and the oxygen has a partial positive charge.

Lewis structure of CO:


CO has a +1 formal charge on O and a -1 formal charge on C (even if oxygen is more electronegative than carbon) ⇒ slight bond dipole toward the carbon