INTERMOLECULAR VS.

INTRAMOLECULAR FORCES

Intermolecular forces and Intramolecular forces are the forces of attraction present between the
atoms, ions or molecules to bind them together. These forces are collectively known as chemical
bonding. Hence the chemical bond acts as a ‘glue’ to associate atoms into molecules, crystals or
ions.
The atoms, when existing alone have very high potential energies. When these atoms approach each
other, they settle themselves up in a way that would result in decrease of the energies of the
component atoms. This causes them to be stable; hence making up the substances in the everyday
world.

During early 19th century, the discovery and behavior of electron in an atom had already been
described under the umbrella of Quantum Mechanics. However, the detailed quantitative bond
formation is yet to be understood for which Quantum Mechanics is quite young. Therefore, certain
intuitive models were represented to understand much of the formation of bonds between atoms.

As mentioned earlier, chemical bonds consist of two types of forces of attraction:

1. Intramolecular forces
2. Intra molecular forces

For the better understanding of Intermolecular and Intramolecular forces, let us take the
demonstration of six balls, a red colored adhesive tape and a Velcro.

Let us take six balls in which three are grey and three are yellow. The grey balls are representing
Hydrogen atoms and the yellow balls are representing Fluorine atoms. Every grey ball is clumped
with yellow ball with the help of a red adhesive tape. This causes all the balls to be in pairs of yellow
and grey each. Use Velcro to join all the pairs in a row.

Now if we pull the balls, the Velcro will cause the partitioning of each pair and not the individual ball
in each pair separates out. The individual pair can only be separated if we use some stronger force or
use the scissors to cut the tape. This example is the exact demonstration on intermolecular and
intramolecular forces. The red adhesive tape represents the intramolecular forces between H and F
atoms while the Velcro represents the Intermolecular Forces between three HF molecules.

FIGURE

ALSO DRAW THE REAL HF

Before delving into the comparison between intermolecular forces and intramolecular forces, a
detailed account of these individual forces is given below:

INTRAMOLECULAR FORCES

The word ‘Intra’ means ‘within a molecule’. So, the intramolecular Forces are the forces of attraction
present between atoms to from a molecule or compound. The Intramolecular Forces are of three
types:
1. Ionic Bond
2. Covalent Bond
3. Metallic Bond

IONIC BOND

Definition
Ionic bond, also known as electrovalent bond is defined as: The electrostatic force of attraction
between cations (+ve ions) and anions (-ve ion).
Explanation
In an ionic bond, an electron is completely and permanently transferred from one atom to another
atom to attain stability. The atom, which gives off its electron is electropositive. After giving away its
electrons, it gains the stability by attaining the nearest noble gas electronic configuration and
becomes a positively charged ion called cation. Likewise, the atom which gains the electrons is
electronegative. It also gains stability by attaining the nearest noble gas electronic configuration and
becomes negatively charged ion called anion. The electrostatic attraction between these two
oppositely charged ions result in ionic bonding and the compounds formed as a result are called
ionic compounds.
Energetics involved in Ionic Bond
The Ionic bond is formed when the electropositive element loses its electron. This can only be done
by providing some energy to the electron. This energy is called Ionization energy. Prior to Ionization
energy, the atom must be converted into its gaseous form. This is because Ionization energy is the
amount of energy required to remove an electron from the outermost shell of an isolated gaseous
atom and to convert that atom into an ion called cation.
 −¿ ¿
+¿+ e ¿
X (g )−−−−−−→ X (g) If the atom is in the gaseous state, lesser energy would be required to
ionize it. Hence, it is important to vaporize solid substances before ionizing them.
The size of cation is always smaller than its parent atom. This is because when one electron is
removed from the outermost shell of an atom, the nuclear attraction of the atom for the outermost
electrons increases. Also, if we take out electrons from alkali metals to form mono-positive ion, the
stability is achieved owing to octet rule. To remove more electrons, a large amount of energy would
be needed to disturb the stability.
Likewise, when the electronegative element gains the electron, some energy is released. This energy
is called Electron affinity. It is the amount of energy released when an electron is added to an
isolated gaseous atom converting that atom into an ion called anion.
−¿¿
−¿−−−−−−→Y (g) ¿
Y (g) +e The size of an anion is always larger than its parent atom. This is because when
an electron is added to the outermost shell of an isolated gaseous atom, its repulsion with already
present electron increases which results in increase in size of atom.

These anions and cations then combine to form ionic bonds. The overall energy of the ionic
compound is lowered due to bond formation.
Mind that there is no overlapping of orbitals in ionic bond unlike covalent bonds.
+¿. ¿
For example, in table salt (NaCl), it is the sodium (Na) that loses its electron and forms Na( g)
−¿. ¿
Similarly, the Cl atom gains that electron to form Cl(g ) The two oppositely charged ions then form
ionic bond.

−¿¿ −¿¿ −¿ ¿
−¿−−−−−−→Cl( g) ¿
Na( g)−−−−−−→ Na(+¿+e
g)
¿
Cl(g )+ e Na( g) +Cl(g) −−−−−−→Na+¿
(g)
+Cl ¿