Boiling point
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Boiling point
Would NH3 have a lower boiling point compared to CH4 because NH3 has a lone pair of electrons?
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Re: Boiling point
Look at the intermolecular forces present: NH3 has the capacity to form hydrogen bonds because of its H-N bond. Hydrogen bonds, which are the strongest intermolecular forces, also have dipole-dipole and London forces (in descending order of strength of the intermolecular forces). CH4, on the other hand, only has London forces (which ALL molecules have) and is the weakest intermolecular force. As such, NH3 has a higher boiling point.
Re: Boiling point
Melting and boiling point depend on intermolecular forces. NH3 is polar with its two lone-pair electrons when CH4 is not. As a result, intermolecular forces between NH3 molecules are stronger.
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Re: Boiling point
To sum up the previous comments, the stronger the bond, the higher the boiling point.
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Re: Boiling point
NH3 can have Hydrogen bonding (between H and N), dipole-dipole (due to NH3 being a polar molecule), and London dispersion forces. CH4 is nonpolar so it only has London dispersion forces. NH3 has more and also stronger intermolecular forces, so it will have a higher boiling point.
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Re: Boiling point
Chloe Likwong 3K wrote:To sum up the previous comments, the stronger the bond, the higher the boiling point.
Is this due to the difficulty of breaking those bonds or for a different reason?
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