JAMB - Chemistry (2004 - No. 11)
The property of chlorine which causes hydrogen chloride to be more ionic than the chlorine molecules is its
electrovalency
electron affinity
electropositivity
electronegativity
Shpjegimi
Electronegativity is the tendency of an atom to attract electrons when forming a chemical bond. In HCl, the chlorine atom's higher electronegativity causes it to attract the bonding electrons, resulting in a partial negative charge on chlorine and a partial positive charge on hydrogen.