Introduction to Molecular Modelling: Part 9 (Partial Charges)

In chemistry, there are ions and neutral molecules. Ions have a total positive or negative charge, while neutral molecules are often polar. The polarity is due to the differences in electronegativities of different elements. For ionic molecules the formal charge is often drawn on one atom — perhaps the central atom, even though it would be unlikely that all of the charge is concentrated on one atom. The bottom line of all of this is that the electron density of a chemical species (ion, molecule) is generally distorted in some way, which allows us to talk about partial charges. For example, an electronegative atom will have a negative partial charge (as it is drawing electron density toward itself) and vice versa. In some way, the partial charge is therefore, a representation of the distortion of electron density in a chemical species. Partial charges are generally non-integer i.e. fractional. <a href="https://shoubhikrmaiti.medium.com/introduction-to-molecular-modelling-part-9-partial-charges-fc4eb7f9d707">Read More</a>