Bond polarity and inductive effects

Polar bonds
Think about the carbon-fluorine bond again. Because the bonding pair is pulled towards the fluorine end of the
bond, that end is left rather more negative than it would otherwise be. The carbon end is left rather short of
electrons and so becomes slightly positive.

The symbols + and - mean "slightly positive" and "slightly negative". You read + as "delta plus" or "delta
positive".
We describe a bond having one end slightly positive and the other end slightly negative as being polar.

Inductive effects
An atom like fluorine which can pull the bonding pair away from the atom it is attached to is said to have a negative
inductive effect.

Most atoms that you will come across have a negative inductive effect when they are attached to a carbon atom,
because they are mostly more electronegative than carbon.

You will come across some groups of atoms which have a slight positive inductive effect - they "push" electrons
towards the carbon they are attached to, making it slightly negative.

Inductive effects are sometimes given symbols: -I (a negative inductive effect) and +I (a positive inductive effect).

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Note: You should be aware of terms like "negative inductive effect", but don't get bogged down in them.
Provided that you understand what happens when electronegative atoms like fluorine or chlorine are
attached to carbon atoms in terms of the polarity of the bonds, that's really all you need for most purposes.
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Some important examples of polar bonds

Hydrogen bromide (and other hydrogen halides)

Bromine (and the other halogens) are all more electronegative than hydrogen, and so all the hydrogen halides have
polar bonds with the hydrogen end slightly positive and the halogen end slightly negative.

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