Polar vs non polar

[MAGGOT]

Hi everyone,
According to my last year chemistry teacher, to determine if something is polar or non polar you look at the electronegativities and etc. However, according to this years teacher you look to see if it is symmetrical.

Which theory would you use?

[sweetiepi]

Hi everyone,
According to my last year chemistry teacher, to determine if something is polar or non polar you look at the electronegativities and etc. However, according to this years teacher you look to see if it is symmetrical.
Which theory would you use?

Personally I would use both together, as sometimes polar molecules aren't the easiest to identify with just numbers alone.

Compare Carbon dioxide and C(CH3)3OH for a rough example

One is easier to identify with electronegativity values alone and one moreso looks at bothd (ignoring the CH3 bonds at least haha)