Important Questions for Class 11

Chemistry
Chapter 5 - States of Matter

Very Short Answer Questions 1 Mark

1. Define Van der waals forces.

Ans: Van der Waals forces are very small attractive forces which exist between the
molecules of a substance.

2. Give an example to show dipole-dipole forces.

Ans: Water molecules possess dipole-dipole forces. The partial positive end of
hydrogen attracts the partially negative end of the oxygen molecule.

3. What type of bond exists between H2O,HF,NH3 ,C2H5OH molecules?

Ans: Since all of the molecules contain hydrogen, as well as an electronegative atom
attached , hence the molecules will show hydrogen bonding.

4. Define Boyle’s law.

Ans: According to Boyle’s Law, pressure of a gas has an inverse relationship with
the volume, provided the temperature and number of moles of the gas are fixed.

5. Why helium and hydrogen gases not liquefied at room temperature by

applying very high pressure?
Ans: They have a critical temperature which is lower than the room temperature.
For liquefaction of gases, temperature must be below the critical temperature.

6. How is the pressure of a given sample of a gas related to temperature at

volume?
Ans: Pr essure  Temperature .

7. Define absolute zero temperature.

Ans: It is the temperature, where, theoretically, gases are said to occupy zero
volume.

8. Define an ideal gas.

Ans: An ideal gas is a gas which follows the ideal gas equation( PV  nRT ), on
any value of temperature and pressure.

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9. What is aqueous tension?
Ans: Pressure exerted on the walls of a container, by the saturated water vapour is
called aqueous tension.

10. What is the value of R at STP?

Ans: R  8.20578  102 Latm K 1 mol1

11. Molecule A is twice as heavy as molecule B. Which of these has higher

kinetic energy at any temperature?
Ans: As kinetic energy is dependent on mass, so Molecule A will have more kinetic
energy.
1
( K.E  mv 2 ).
2

12. Write Van der waals equation for n moles of a gas.

an 2
Ans: (P  2 )(V  nb)  nRT
V

13. Out of NH3 and N 2 , which will have (i) larger value of ‘a’ and (ii) larger
value of ‘b’?
Ans: (i) NH3 , due to hydrogen bonding
(ii) N 2 , due to large molecule size.

14. What property of molecules of real gases is indicated by van der Waals
constant ‘a’?
Ans: Attraction between the molecules, or intermolecular attraction.

15. Under what conditions do real gases tend to show ideal gas behaviour?
Ans: High temperature, Low Pressure.

16. How are Van der waals constants ‘a’ and ‘b’ related to the tendency to
liquefy?
Ans: “a” measures intermolecular attractions, more value of “a” means more
attractive forces, which means it is easier to liquefy. “b” measures volume, less the
volume or the value of “b”, the easier it is to liquefy.

17. When does a gas show ideal behaviour in terms of volume?

Ans: When the volume becomes so large that we can neglect the molecules that are
associated in the space.

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18. Define Boyle point.
Ans: Boyle point is the temperature at which a real gas obeys ideal gas law over an
appreciable range of pressure.

19. Define standard boiling point.

Ans: It is the boiling point of a liquid, when the atmospheric pressure is 1 bar.

20. What is surface energy?

Ans: Surface energy is the energy required to expand the surface area of the liquid
by one unit.

21. What is surface tension? What is its S.I unit?

Ans: The force acting per unit length at 900 to the line drawn on the surface of liquid
is called surface tension. Its SI unit is Nm1 .

22. How does surface tension change when temperature is raised?

Ans: On increasing temperature, surface tension decreases.

23. Why is glycerol highly viscous?

Ans: It is because of the presence of hydrogen bonding, which is a strong attractive
force( C3H8O3 ).

24. Some tiny light hollow spheres are placed in a flask. What would happen to
these 4 spheres, if temperature is raised?
Ans: As temperature is raised, the kinetic energy will increase and the spheres will
follow zigzag Brownian motion, and collide with themselves and the walls of the
flask.

25. The boiling points of a liquid rises on increasing pressure. Give a reason.
Ans: A liquid boils when V.P  atmpressure . So, on increasing pressure, more
energy is needed for the molecules to escape, hence, boiling point increases.

Short Answer Questions 2 Marks

1. Ice has lower density than water. Give a reason.

Ans: It is because of the presence of different types of hydrogen bonding in both of
the compounds. Ice has open type structure with wide holes, whereas liquid water
has closed type structure, with hydrogen bonding.

2. Water has maximum density at 40 C . Give a reason.

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Ans: When temperature of ice/cool water is increased from 00 C to 40 C , then some
of the hydrogen bonds break and the volume decreases. Hence, molecules come
close enough, to the maximum limit, and for this, the molecules come close enough,
to the maximum limit. Hence, the density is maximum at this temperature.

3. Define thermal energy.

Ans: We know that atoms and molecules are in constant motion. The energy which
is liberated by virtue of this motion is called thermal energy.
As the temperature of a substance increases, the molecules gain more energy and
their speed increases, which means, the thermal energy also increases.

4. What are the factors responsible for the strength of hydrogen bonds?
Ans: The strength of hydrogen bond depends on the distance between the lone pair
of negatively charged electrons of the electronegative atom, and the partially
positively charged hydrogen atom of the other molecule.

5. At what temperature will the volume of a gas at 00 C double itself, pressure

remaining constant?
Ans: Let us take the volume at absolute zero to be V ml . So, we have:
V1  V ml
V2  2V ml
T1  0  273  273K
T2  ?
Now, in order to find the temperature, we will use Charles's Law:
V1 V2

T1 T2
V2  T1
 T2 
V1
2V  273
 T2 
V
 T2  546K
Now the temperature in Kelvin is (546  273)0 C  2730 C .

6. 50 cm 3 of hydrogen gas enclosed in a vessel maintained under a pressure of

1400 Tor, is allowed to expand to 125 cm 3 under constant temperature
conditions. What would be its pressure?
Ans: The parameters are:

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P1  1400
P2  ?
V1  50cm3
V2  125cm3
Now, we will use ideal gas equation to find the required pressure:
P1V1  P2 V2
P1V1
 P2 
V2
1400  50
 P2 
125
 P2  560Torr
So, the value of the required pressure is 560 Torr.

7. State the law depicting the volume-temperature relationship.

Ans: The law depicting the volume-temperature relationship is called the Charles
Law. It states that when pressure remains constant, then the volume of a given mass
1
of a gas changes by of its volume at absolute zero for every one degree
273
centigrade or fall in temperature. Mathematically:
V
Vt  V0  0
273
273  t
 Vt  V0 ( )
273
[ Vt is volume of gas at t 0C , V0 is volume at absolute zero]

8. State Avogadro’s Law. Is the converse of Avogadro’s law true?

Ans: According to Avogadro’s law, all gases under the same conditions of pressure
and temperature contain the same number of molecules, provided their volumes are
equal. For example, molar mass of oxygen molecule is 32g mol1 , and that of
nitrogen molecule is 28g mol1 . So, when the different masses are taken respectively,
then we find that both of the molecules have same number of particles, which is
6.022  1023 .

9. Deduce the relation PV  nRT where R is a constant called universal gas

constant.
Ans: Let us recall the 3 gas laws:

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 1
V (T,n const,Boyle's Law)
p
VT(P,n const,Charle's Law)
V n(T,P const,Avogadro's Law)

On combing the three laws, we have:

1
V n   T
P
nT
 V
P
 PV  nRT

10. At 250 C and 760 mm of Hg pressure a gas occupies 600ml volume. What
will be its pressure at a height where temperature is 100 C and the volume of
the gas is 640mL. Calculate the volume occupied by 5.0 g of acetylene gas at
500 C and 740mm pressure.
Ans: The parameters are:
P1  760mm
V1  600mL
T1  25  273  298K
V2  640mL
T2  10  273  283K
As PV is constant, so, from the combined as equation, we have:
P1V1 P2 V2

T1 T2
P1T2 V1
 P2 
T1V2
760  283  600
 P2 
640  298
 P2  676.6 mm

11. Explain how the function PV / RT can be used to show gases behave non-
ideally at high pressure.
Ans: According to the ideal gas equation, PV  nRT , so the ratio given above shows
us the number of moles of an ideal gas.

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Now, on changing the pressure, there should be no effect on the number of moles,
as it is fixed for every ideal gas. However, if it changes, it means that the gas is not
behaving like an ideal gas.

12. Mention the two assumptions of kinetic theory of gases that do not hold
good.
Ans: The two assumptions of the kinetic theory that do not hold good are:
● Molecules of a gas do not have any force of attraction between them.
● Volume of the molecules of a gas is negligibly small when compared to the space
which is occupied by the gas.

13. Calculate the pressure exerted by one mole of CO2 at 273K if the Van der
waals constant a = 3.592dm 6 atmmol 1 . Assume that the volume occupied by
CO2 molecules are negligible.
Ans: We will use Van der Waals equation to solve this. As volume occupied by the
molecules is negligible we can take b  0 . The parameters are:
a  3.592dm6 atm mol1
V  22.4dm3
R  0.082Latm K 1 mol1
T  273K
Now, as b is 0, so the modified equation is:
RT a
P 
V V2
0.082  273 3.592
P 
22.4 (22.4) 2
 P  0.0003  0.0071
 P  0.9922atm

14. Why does viscosity of liquids decrease as the temperature is raised?

Ans: As the temperature of liquids is raised, the molecules gain more energy and
tend to break the intermolecular bonds. The volume increases and bond weakens,
and the molecules move away from each other, which reduces the density, as well
as, decreases the viscosity.

15. What is the effect of temperature on (i) density (ii) vapor pressure of a
liquid?
Ans:

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 Mass
● Density  , so as volume is directly proportional to temperature, and
Volume
inversely proportional to density, it means that density is inversely proportional
to temperature.
● As the temperature of a liquid is increased, the molecules gain more kinetic energy
and their speed increases. This means, with a higher speed, they can exert more
force per unit area on the wall of the container. This means that vapour pressure
is directly proportional to temperature.

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