Sunday, February 27, 2011

Chloroform's Forces of Attraction

There are three possible types of forces of attraction: 

London Dispersion Forces 
London Dispersion forces occur between all molecules for they are weak temporary forces that attract two molecules when two atoms adjacent to each other have electrons in positions that cause the atoms to form temporary dipoles. 

Dipole-Dipole Forces  
Dipole Dipole forces only occur between polar molecules, for they are forces that attract the positive end of one molecule to the negative end of another adjacent molecule. 

Hydrogen Bonding 
Hydrogen Bonding only occurs in some polar molecules, for they are a type of dipole-dipole forces. Hydrogen bonding is a force that attracts the hydrogen of one molecule to the Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Fluorine of an adjacent molecule.  

Chloroform (CHCl3) uses London Dispersion Forces and Dipole-Dipole Forces to attract with another identical molecule, as shown in the picture below. *Note that the London Dispersion forces could not be showed because they are constantly forming all around the molecule, changing places. 

Chloroform uses London Dispersion Forces because all molecules regardless of polarity use them. Chloroform additionally uses Dipole-Dipole Forces because it is polar, and only polar molecules exhibit Dipole-Dipole forces, for polar molecules have oppositely charged ends that attract each other, while a non-polar molecule does not. Chloroform does not use Hydrogen Bonding because it does not contain any Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Fluorine that the Hydrogen can bond to. 

1 comment:

  1. This really helped me understand intermolecular forces. Thank you!

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