Unit 5

An idea of van der Waal's forces and how they affect physical properties such as melting and boiling points

During melting and boiling, the force that is to be overcome is the weak forces of attraction between the molecules which are the van der Waal's forces.

Note: The covalent bond only exists between the atoms that make up the compound. van der Waal's forces only exists between the molecules.

van der Waal's forces is an extremely small amount of attraction that exists between the molecules.These forces of attraction are very weak so naturally the melting points of simple covalent molecules would be extremely low.

Notes:Simple covalent compounds are made up of small dicrete molecules.