MOLECULAR POLARITYFIELD NOTE 161 / 175
Is SiCl4 polar or nonpolar?
SiCl4 is a nonpolar molecule because its perfect tetrahedral geometry causes the four polar Si–Cl bond dipoles to cancel completely.
Silicon Tetrachloride · tetrahedral
The molecule in space
Drag to turn the molecule. Show angles to read the model geometry.
01 / MODEL RECORDPubChem 3D coordinates. Atom sizes and bond thickness are illustrative.How model data is used ↗
Why SiCl4 is nonpolar
Silicon tetrachloride is the silicon analog of CCl4. Each Si–Cl bond is polar (Cl is much more electronegative than Si), but the four bonds are arranged in a perfect tetrahedron.
What to notice
SiCl4 mirrors the symmetry argument for CCl4: four equivalent polar bonds point to the corners of a tetrahedron and cancel overall.
Common questions about SiCl4
- 01
What does the Lewis structure of SiCl4 show?
Si forms four single Si–Cl bonds and has no lone pair. Each Cl has three lone pairs.
- 02
What is the molecular geometry of SiCl4?
SiCl4 has a tetrahedral molecular geometry. The 3D model shows representative bond angles of 109.5°. These angles come from the displayed model coordinates.
- 03
What is the molar mass of SiCl4?
SiCl4 has an approximate molar mass of 169.89 g/mol, calculated from its formula using abridged standard atomic weights. Natural isotope variation can change the last digits.