NCERT Class XII Chemistry
Chapter - The Solid State
Questions with Solutions

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Question : 6
Total: 50
‘Stability of a crystal is reflected in the magnitude of its melting point’. Comment. Collect melting points of solid water, ethyl alcohol, diethyl ether and methane from a data book. What can you say about the intermolecular forces between these molecules?
Solution:  
The melting points of some compounds are given below :
Water = 273 K, Ethyl alcohol = 155.7 K, Diethyl ether = 156.8 K, Methane = 90.5 K
Higher the melting point, stronger are the forces holding the constituent particles together and hence greater is the stability.
The intermolecular forces in water and ethyl alcohol are mainly hydrogen bonding. Higher melting point of water as compared to alcohol shows that hydrogen bonding in ethyl alcohol molecules is not as strong as in water molecules. Diethyl ether is a polar molecule. The intermolecular forces present in them are dipole-dipole attraction. Methane is a non-polar molecule. The only forces present in them are the weak van der Waals forces (London dispersion forces).
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