Question

How do intermolecular forces affect freezing point?

Answer 1

Hint: The intermolecular forces are seen to be acted at the atomic level. These forces have the tendency to keep the atoms and the molecules bonded together. Due to these interactive forces the molecules are kept at a place. The intermolecular forces are ion dipole forces, ion induced dipole forces and the hydrogen bonding.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The freezing point is defined as the temperature at which the liquid state of the substance changes its state to the solid state at the atmospheric pressure. The freezing point is widely and mainly affected by the intermolecular forces. If the intermolecular force between the molecules is strong then the freezing point will be high. This is because on high interaction between the molecules the molecules would be attracted to each other strongly and will have a small gap or a less space between each other, so we need more energy to break their strong bonding and high interaction.

So the freezing point will be high if the intermolecular forces are high as they would be freezing at high temperature as the attraction between the forces is strong. And if the intermolecular forces are less than their freezing point will be less. So the intermolecular forces are directly proportional to their freezing point.

Note: The freezing point of the liquid or the solid’s melting point occurs at a temperature when the solid phase as well as the liquid phase are at equilibrium. The intermolecular forces have the tendency to affect other properties also such as fluidity of the liquids. If the intermolecular forces between the molecules are high then the liquid will flow slowly.