The reason why ethyl acetate is non-polar

The judgment of substance polarity is related to the molecular structure and charge distribution. For ethyl acetate, why it is non-polar can be investigated in depth.

The structure of ethyl acetate is composed of acetate and ethanol. Looking at its molecules, it has a certain symmetry. The arrangement of carbon-oxygen double bonds and carbon-oxygen single bonds makes the distribution of electron clouds tend to be uniform. Although the electronegativity between carbon and oxygen is poor, the spatial configuration of the molecule as a whole causes the positive and negative charge centers to almost coincide.

According to common sense, polar molecules have uneven charge distribution, with obvious positive and negative poles. And ethyl acetate, the internal atomic forces balance each other. The covalent bond between carbon and hydrogen, the electron pair deviation is not very significant; although the electronegative oxygen between carbon and oxygen is greater than that of carbon, the charge effect of each part cancels each other in the overall molecular structure.

And from the perspective of solubility, ethyl acetate is easily soluble in non-polar organic solvents, such as hexane, benzene, etc. This phenomenon also confirms its non-polar nature. Covering the principle of "similar miscibility", non-polar substances tend to blend with non-polar substances to achieve the lowest energy state.

From this perspective, ethyl acetate exhibits non-polar characteristics due to the symmetry of molecular structure, uniform charge distribution, checks and balances between atoms, and the characterization of solubility.