Ranking Intermolecular Forces
Below is an explanation of how intermolecular forces are ranked from strongest to weakest.
1. The strongest intermolecular forces are in ion-ion bonds which happen when a metal bonds to another metal.
2. The next strongest forces are ion-dipole bonds which happen when metals bond to nonmetals.
3. The third strongest force is a type of dipole-dipole force called hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding only occurs when hydrogen is bonded with nitrogen, fluorine, or oxygen. That’s because nitrogen, fluorine, and oxygen have high electronegativity.
4. The rest of the dipole-dipole bonds come next. They occur at polar nonmetal bonds.
5. The weakest forces are London Dispersion Forces (#LDF) also known as Van der Waals (#VDF). All molecules have this force. The more electrons the molecules have, the stronger this force is.
6. The more electronegative a molecule has, the greater the intermolecular force. For example, NH3 and H2O both have hydrogen bonds, but H20 has a greater intermolecular force because it’s two loan pairs make it more electronegative (or more polar) than NH3 which only has one loan pair.
7. VDW is not an acronym commonly used in the science world, but typing out Van der Waals took too much room on the graphic, and I figured since LDF is ok to use, VDW should be too.
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Video: Types, Boiling Points, and Quiz
The first half of this video explains the different types of intermolecular forces. The second half explains how they affect boiling points. At the end is a short quiz for you to practice comparing the intermolecular forces between molecules.
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