Which of these molecules has dispersion forces as its strongest intermolecular force? #"Br"_2#, #"H"_2"S"#, #"HCl"#, #"CO"#

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Sep 10, 2017

Only the molecule with no other intermolecular force would have dispersion forces as its strongest intermolecular force.

By the way, trick question here: which molecule has the highest boiling point?

And since only #"Br"_2# is nonpolar, it is the only one with only dispersion forces.

  • #"H"_2"S"# is polar, and has dipole-dipole interactions as its dominant intermolecular force.
  • #"HCl"# is polar, and has dipole-dipole interactions as its dominant intermolecular force.
  • #"CO"# is polar, and has dipole-dipole interactions as its dominant intermolecular force.

As examples, the #"C"# end of #"CO"# is partially negative (not #"O"#!), and the #"Cl"# end of #"HCl"# is partially negative. Which end of #"H"_2"S"# is partially positive?

Related questions
See all questions in Van der Waals Interactions
Impact of this question
7747 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License