ACTIVITY No.

3
INTERMOLECULAR FORCES

DIRECTION: Identify the IMF that act in the following substances. Justify your answer.
Please use other font color for your answers.

• Sulfur dioxide - dipole-dipole forces

• Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) is a polar molecule that feature dipole-dipole
interactions in its intermolecular forces

• Nitrogen gas - London dispersion forces

• Nitrogen gas (N2) is diatomic and nonpolar because both nitrogen atoms
have the same degree of electronegativity. London dispersion forces allow
nitrogen atoms to stick together to form a liquid.

• Hydrogen fluoride - Hydrogen bonding

• Hydrogen fluoride, HF, has extensive intermolecular hydrogen bonding,
because the individual molecules comprise a molecular dipole.

• Carbon dioxide - London-dispersion forces

• CO has C-O bonds. The dipoles point in opposite directions, so they
cancel each other out. Thus, although CO2 has polar bonds, it is a
nonpolar molecule. Therefor, the only intermolecular forces are London-
dispersion forces.

• Neon gas - London-dispersion forces

• Neon (Ne) is a noble gas, nonpolar and with only modest London
Dispersion forces between atoms.

• Magnesium chloride dissolved in water. - ion-dipole interaction

• Between magnesium chloride and water, there is an ion-dipole
interaction. This contact is caused by polar water molecules interacting
with a magnesium ion. The water molecule's oxygen atom contains a tiny
negative charge, which attracts the positively charged magnesium ion.
DIRECTION: Answer the following questions substantially.

• How do typical dipole-dipole forces differ from hydrogen bonding? In what way
are they similar?

Typical dipole-dipole forces are strong bonds between atoms, some of them usually
quite electronegative. Hydrogen Bonding is between molecules and is a weak bond that
usually requires the presence of hydrogen. A hydrogen bond is a dipole-dipole force and
is an attraction between a slightly positive hydrogen on one molecule and a slightly
negative atom on another molecule.