In general boiling point of covalent compounds is affected due to increasing molecular weight and hy — Chemical Bonding Chemistry Question
Question
In general boiling point of covalent compounds is affected due to increasing molecular weight and hydrogen bonding. Thus it is observed that the boiling point of octanol is greater that water while that of methanol is lesser than water. The other properties which are considerably affected due to hydrogen bond formation are acidic nature, melting point, anamalous behaviour of water below 4°C., It is therefore concluded that hydrogen bonding plays a vital role in explaning many observable facts.
💡 Solution & Explanation
Step 1: Understand that the potential energy of a bonding system reaches a minimum at the optimum internuclear distance (bond length), balancing attractions and repulsions. Step 2: If the internuclear distance is decreased below this optimum distance, the nuclei and core electron clouds are forced too close together. Step 3: This leads to a massive, steep increase in potential energy due to the sharp increase in electrostatic repulsions between the positively charged nuclei and between the negatively charged electron clouds.