Polar &

Non-Polar
Molecules and
Intermolecular
Forces
Level III Chemistry
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

● Use electronegativity values to predict the nature of a chemical bond

● Identify the type of intermolecular forces that exist between molecules
Electronegativity
● When two atoms are bonded together, sometimes one atom holds the pair of
shared electrons more closely than the other. This ability to hold electrons
closer is called electronegativity.
Polar or Non-Polar Covalent BOND?
● Look up the electronegativity values of both atoms
● Determine the ΔEN (electronegativity difference)
○ < 0.5 Non-polar
○ 0.5 -1.7 Polar
○ > 1.8 Ionic
Polar or non-polar bond?

H-Cl H-B
Polar or non-polar
covalent molecule?
Polar or non-polar molecule?
CCl4
Polar or non-polar molecule?
NH3
Intermolecular Forces
● Forces of attraction between molecules
● Strong intermolecular forces affect properties:
○ Increased IMFs means increased melting & boiling points (need more energy to move molecules
further apart)
○ Increased forces means a substance is more likely to be in a condensed state (solid or liquid)
○ Increased forces means a liquid will have a higher surface tension
Intermolecular Forces: London Dispersion
● These are weak intermolecular interactions that all molecules have, even
non-polar molecules and unbonded atoms.
● The bigger the compound, the stronger the london force.
Intermolecular Forces: Dipole Dipole
● Between two polar molecules
● The more polar a substance the stronger the dipole-dipole force
● This is a STRONG force
Intermolecular Forces: Hydrogen Bond
● A special dipole-dipole force when
hydrogen is bonded to N, F or O (the 3
most electronegative elements)
● VERY strong
● This is why water has such a high
boiling point
● Super important in biochemistry
(these hold our DNA strands together
among other things!)
Intermolecular Forces - Dissolving
● Like dissolves like
○ So a polar substance will dissolve in a polar solvent and vice versa
Strength & Properties
London Dispersion Forces ----- Dipole-Dipole interactions----- Hydrogen bonding

Increasing strength of IMFs of attraction

Which has the higher boiling point, CH4 or H2S? Explain.

Which would dissolve in water? NH3 or NI3? Explain.

Practice
Page 108 #1, 2, 3, 5

Page 115 #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7