Sunday, February 27, 2011

Forces of Attraction

If a C3H8 molecule was to come close to another C3H8 molecule, then there would be only one type of force of attraction. This force of attraction is called a London Dispersion Force.

London Dispersion Forces- London Dispersion Forces are weak attractions between two seperate molecules. These attractions are very temporary and are caused by electrons moving around two seperate atoms.

The two forces of attraction that would not occur between two C3H8 molecules are:

Dipole-Dipole- Dipole-Dipole attractions are electrostatic between the positive end of a dipole and the negative end of a different dipole.

Hydrogen Bonding- Hydrogen bonding is the attraction between a hydrogen atom and a electronegative atom, such as nitrogen, oxygen, or fluorine. This type of bonding is extremely strong and temporary and is a special case of a dipole-dipole. If C3H8 was to come across a HF molecule, a hydrogen bond would take place.

1 comment:

  1. You are correct by saying that since your molecule is non-polar, if it were to come across the same molecule, there would only be london dispersion forces. Since the molecule is non-polar, dipole-dipole would not come into effect. Also, hydrogen bonding would not come into effect because in the Propane molecule, Hydrogen is not attached to either Nitrogen ,Oxygen, or Florine.

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