Why is carbon dioxide a non-polar molecule?

Answer 1

Molecular polarity arises from the vector sum of the individual bond-dipoles.

For each #C=O# bond we could draw a vector representing bond polarity #rarr#, where the arrow points to the negative end. Because carbon dioxide is linear, these dipoles sum up to zero, and the carbon dioxide molecule is non-polar.

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Answer 2

Jose Ayala

Carbon dioxide is a non-polar molecule because it has a linear molecular geometry, with the two oxygen atoms bonded symmetrically to the central carbon atom, resulting in a net dipole moment of zero.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.