How Does Polar & Non-Polar Molecules: Crash Course Chemistry #23 Work?

Polar and non-polar molecules are like best friends who either get along really well or don’t talk to each other at all.

Imagine you have two kinds of juice boxes: one with apple juice, which is polar, and one with oil, which is non-polar. If you pour them into a glass together, the apple juice will mix in, but the oil will sit on top, it just won’t hang out with the others.

Think of molecules as little people holding hands. In polar molecules, some people are holding hands more tightly than others, one side is a bit positive, and the other is a bit negative. This makes them like magnets: they stick together easily.

In non-polar molecules, everyone is holding hands evenly, no one’s special or different. So they don’t care if they mix with others or not.

When you put polar and non-polar molecules together, it's like trying to get a shy kid (non-polar) to play with a group of loud kids (polar). They just don’t want to be friends. But if you have two polar or two non-polar molecules, they’re happy to hang out, it’s like playing tag with people who all know the rules!