-- Posted by Anonymous at 10:51 am on Nov. 3, 2008 I dont know what a polar atom is, or a non-polar atom, and I know that if I dont understand this, I'm dead. I know all that stuff about dipole-dipole and weak vanderwalls etc. But I just don't understand the meaning of polar, and the meaning of non-polar (also polar-covalent). Don't start going on about dipole moments, and differences on in electronegativity, cause I know that. Just tell me what the hell is the meaning of polar, and what is non-polar. -- Posted by HatesYou at 4:21 pm on Nov. 4, 2008 Put it this way.  Water is polar.  Anything that floats in water is also polar and has a charge. Non-polar has no charge.   Polar-covalent consists of both a negative and positive charge. That's really one of the key differences.