Methane, bond angles chlorination

Chloroform, CHCla, is an example of a polar molecule. It has the same bond angles as methane, CH4, and carbon tetrachloride, CCLi- Carbon, with sp3 bonding, forms four tetrahedrally oriented bonds (as in Figure 16-11). However, the cancellation of the electric dipoles of the four C—Cl bonds in CCL does not occur when one of the chlorine atoms is replaced by a hydrogen atom. There is, then, a molecular dipole remaining. The effects of such electric dipoles are important to chemists because they affect chemical properties. We shall examine one of these, solvent action. 

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