niua

Combining

or Ethyne molecule (CH,).

()
(it) Formation of Acetylene
ca Triple

H-CC-H
bond

or
H.+ C+}C + H
Two carbon and two Ethyne molecule
atoms with
hydrogen
electrons
their valence

)
3.3 Properties of Covalent Compounds

) Physical state
-The covalent compounds
with high molecular masses

benzene, carbon disulphide,

are soft solids.
are generally gases or liquids; but
For example, covalent compounds
carbon tetrachloride are liquids while compounds
ether,
like methane,

and chlorine are gases. Some of the covalent compounds like

compounds
like

ethane, ethylene, acetylene

urea, glucose, cane sugar, iodine, etc. are, however, solids.

(i) Melting and boiling points Since covalent compounds are made-up of electrically
neutral molecules, therefore, the force of attraction between the molecule of a covalent
compound is very weak.As a result, only small amount of heat energy is required to break
weak intemolecular forces. Therefore, covalent compoundshave low melting and boling
these

points. For example, naphthalene has a low melting point of 353K and carbon tetrachloride
has a low boiling point of 350 K. There are,
however, some exceptions like diamond and
graphite which are covalent solids and have very
high melting and boiling points.

(i) Solubility Covalent compounds generally dissolve readily in

water. For
organic solvents but much
less in
example, naphthalene which is an organic
compound dissolves readily in
organic solvents like ether but is insoluble in water.
urea, glucose, sugar,
However, some covalent compounds like
are soluble in water.
etc.
Some polar covalent
and hydrochloric acid are also soluble in water
compounds like ammonia

(iv) Non-conductor of electricity -Covalent

since no ion compounds are
non-conductor of electricity
formation takes
place when they are either melted
example, covalent or dissolved in solvents. For
compounds like urea, cane
not conduct glucose, sugar, carbon tetrachloride, etc. do
electricity because they do not
contain ions.
compounds like hydrogen chloride However, some polar covalent
gas when dissolved in water
hydrogen chloride reacts conduct electricity because
chemically with water to
hydrogen ions (or produce hydrochloric acid which
hydronium ions) and chloride ions. contains
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