Question

Arrange the following substances in increasing order of forces of attraction.
A. Oxygen, water, sugar
B. Sugar, water, oxygen
C. Water, sugar, oxygen
D. Sugar, oxygen, water

Answer 1

Hint: There are various types of forces of attractions which are present between atoms or molecules or ions, which are responsible for their physical state too.
Gases have least forces of attraction between them and so their molecules are far apart from each other, followed by the liquid which have higher attractions than gases, and finally solids which have much higher forces of attraction between molecules hence they are hard and molecules are closely packed.

Complete step by step answer:
In case of a solid, the force of attraction keeps the particles together close enough so that the particles do not move each other. In other words, the constituent particles of a solid experience much higher forces of attraction because of which their movement is restricted.
In case of a liquid, particles will move over one another, but stays toward the bottom of the container. The force of attraction between the particles keeps them close enough to have a specific volume but not strong enough which could keep the molecules from sliding over each other.
In a gas, particles are in straight-line motion. In most cases, there are essentially no force of attraction between the particles. This means that a gas has nothing to hold a shape or volume.
Now in the given question since oxygen is a gas, it will have least forces of attraction followed by water which is liquid and finally sugar which is a solid.

So, the correct answer is Option A.

Note: Since oxygen in its molecular form is usually present in a gaseous state, it has least forces of attractions between the constituent molecules. While in case of water, it is present in the form of liquid, so it has higher forces of attraction than gases, followed by sugar which has the state of a solid hence the molecules are much more closely packed than liquid and gas, hence it has highest forces of attraction between its molecules.