Bond polarity and molecular shape

A molecule is polar only if its polar bonds fail to cancel, which depends on its shape as much as its atoms.

A worked example

CCl4 has four polar C-Cl bonds, but the tetrahedral shape points them symmetrically outward so the dipoles cancel and the molecule is non-polar.

The mistake people actually make

Boiling a molecular substance breaks the forces between molecules, not the covalent bonds inside them. Polar bonds do not guarantee a polar molecule.

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