MOLECULAR POLARITYFIELD NOTE 159 / 175
Is SF6 polar or nonpolar?
SF6 is nonpolar even though every S–F bond is polar; six identical bonds cancel in an octahedral arrangement.
Sulfur Hexafluoride · octahedral
The molecule in space
Drag to turn the molecule. Show angles to read the model geometry.
01 / MODEL RECORDNIST geometry. Atom sizes and bond thickness are illustrative.How model data is used ↗
Lewis structure of SF6
A Lewis diagram counts valence electrons. The model above shows the shape in space.
- 01
Bonds
Each S–F bond is polar because fluorine attracts shared electrons strongly.
- 02
Shape
Six bonding regions around sulfur arrange octahedrally in three dimensions; this flat electron map does not depict the 3D angles.
- 03
Net dipole
Opposite bond dipoles cancel pairwise in the octahedral geometry; SF₆ is nonpolar.
Why SF6 is nonpolar
Fluorine draws bonding electrons away from sulfur. NIST reports an octahedral structure with adjacent F–S–F angles of 90° and opposite angles of 180°. Each S–F bond dipole has an equal bond facing exactly the opposite direction, so all three pairs cancel. A flat hexagon is the wrong picture: cancellation happens in three dimensions.
What to notice
Six polar S–F bonds do not make SF6 polar. Its octahedron has three opposite bond pairs, so this is three-dimensional cancellation rather than a flat hexagon.
Common questions about SF6
- 01
What does the Lewis structure of SF6 show?
The conventional Lewis sketch has six S–F single bonds and no lone pair on S. Each F has three lone pairs; the six F atoms occupy octahedral positions.
- 02
What is the molecular geometry of SF6?
SF6 has a octahedral molecular geometry. The 3D model shows representative bond angles of 180° and 90°. These angles come from the displayed model coordinates.
- 03
What is the molar mass of SF6?
SF6 has an approximate molar mass of 146.05 g/mol, calculated from its formula using abridged standard atomic weights. Natural isotope variation can change the last digits.