GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2

LESSON 3:
Properties of Liquids and Intermolecular Forces

MARIA DIANA D. SALES

Teacher
Describe the following
properties of liquids and
explain the effect of Most
intermolecular forces on Essential
these properties: surface Learning
tension, viscosity, vapor Competencies
pressure, boiling point,
and molar heat of
vaporization.
STEM_GC11IMFIIIa-c-102
+ IMPORTANT TERMS

Fluid - A gas or a liquid; a substance that can flow.

Surface tension - The measure of the elastic force in the surface of
a liquid. It is the amount of energy required to stretch or increase
the surface of a liquid by a unit area.
Capillary action - The tendency of a liquid to rise in narrow tubes
or to be drawn into small openings.
Viscosity - A measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow.
Vapor - A gaseous substance that exist naturally as a liquid or solid
at normal temperature
Vaporization - The change of phase from liquid to vapor
(gaseous phase).
Vapor pressure of a liquid - The equilibrium pressure of a
vapor above its liquid; that is, the pressure exerted by the
vapor above
the surface of the liquid in a closed container.
Boiling point - The temperature at which a liquid boils. The
boiling point of a liquid when the external pressure is 1 atm is
called the normal boiling point.
Molar heat of vaporization (ΔHvap) - The energy (usually in
kilojoules) required to vaporize 1 mole of a liquid at a given
temperature.
 PERFORMANCE TASK NO. 4
PROPERTIES OF LIQUIDS &
INTERMOLECULAR FORCES
DIRECTIONS: Analyze the pictures and graph of the properties of
liquids and complete the table by answering the questions under actual
observation and prediction. Provide explanation for each.

MATERIALS NEEDED: paper clip, clear glass/ beaker, 5 test tube,

honey, dishwashing liquid, oil, isopropyl alcohol, metal pan/Cardboard,
Cold and hot water, 3 bottles of water in the same sizes with cap,
acetone, stalks of celery, food color

6
LET’S FIND
OUT YOUR
RESULTS &
OBSERVATION
 Due to the surface
tension, there is an
attraction between the
The paper clip will particles that causes
float at the top of the
the liquid to have
water.
surface tension.

Honey is the slowest,

because among the
liquids, syrup is
thickest. The thickness
of the syrup is brought
by the tightly packed
particles.
 When the temperature
increases in the sealed
bottle, the internal pressure
is higher compared to the
Hot water pressure outside. When you
open the bottle, the
particles will escape quickly
and will produce sound
waves.

Because it has reached the

temperature where the
From solid phase, it vapor pressure is equal to
turns to liquid phase. the pressure in the
surroundings. The phase
also changed to vapor or
gas.

Acetone
Water mixed with food
coloring rises up freshly-cut
stalks of celery
The acetone has lower
heat of vaporization
compared to water. The
heat from our hands is
enough to increase the
kinetic energy of the
particles and provide
additional heat to
vaporize it.
Capillary action is shown by
water with food coloring
rising spontaneously. Plants
use capillary action to bring
water up the roots and
stems to the rest of the
plant. The molecules of the
water (the liquid) are
attracted to the molecules
of the inside of the stem
(the solid).
SURFACE TENSION is the measure of the elastic
force in the surface of a liquid. It is the amount of
energy required to stretch or increase the surface of a
liquid by a unit area. It is manifested as some sort of
skin on the surface of a liquid or in a drop of liquid.
Use the illustrations given below to show
manifestations of surface tension.

Figure 1. Examples of how surface tension is manifested.

 Molecules within a liquid are pulled in all directions
by intermolecular forces. Molecules at the surface are
pulled downward and sideways by other molecules, not
upward away from the surface (shown in the diagram
below).
These intermolecular forces tend to pull the
molecules into the liquid and cause the surface to
tighten like an elastic film or “skin”.

Figure 2. Intermolecular forces that act on molecules of a liquid.

CAPILLARY ACTION
- is the tendency of a liquid to rise in narrow tubes or
be drawn into small openings such as those between
grains of a rock. Capillary action, also known as
capillarity, is a result of intermolecular attraction
between the liquid and solid materials.

Colored water seen rising up in glass tubes.

Capillary action is shown by water rising spontaneously in
capillary tubes. A thin film of water adheres to the wall of the
glass tube as water molecules are attracted to atoms making
up the glass (SiO2). Surface tension causes the film of water
to contract and pulls the water up the tube.

A doctor takes blood sample from a patient’s finger using a capillary tube.
Water mixed with food coloring rises up freshly-cut stalks of celery
Two types of forces are involved in capillary
action:
1. Cohesion is the intermolecular attraction between like
molecules (the liquid molecules).
2. Adhesion is an attraction between unlike molecules (such as
those in water and in the particles that
make up the glass tube).
These forces also define the shape of the surface of a liquid
in a cylindrical container (the meniscus!)
When the cohesive forces between the liquid molecules are
greater than the adhesive forces between the liquid and the
walls of the container, the surface of the liquid is convex.
Example: mercury in a container
 When the cohesive forces between the liquid molecules are
lesser than the adhesive forces between the liquid and the
walls of the container, the surface of the liquid is concave.
Example: water in a glass container
When both adhesive and cohesive forces are equal, the
surface is horizontal.
Example: distilled water in a silver vessel

Concave and Convex Meniscus

VISCOSITY
Introduce viscosity with the following activity:
Materials needed: water, cooking oil, honey, acetone,
Test tubes, as many as liquids to
test
Droppers
Hard cardboard, tape
Marking pen for labeling

Comparison of ease of flow of liquids.

REMEMBER: Thick liquid do not flow easily.

Viscosity is a measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow. The
greater the viscosity, the slower the liquid flows.
Viscosity is expressed in units of centipoise. The table
below gives viscosities of liquids of some pure
substances. Water has viscosity of 1 centipoise or 0.001 Pa/s at
20oC. Substances with lower viscosities include carbon
tetrachloride and benzene. Glycerol has a resistance to flow of
more than a thousand times greater than water.

Poise or Stoke is a metric system unit.

The SI unit is Pascal-second (Pa-s) or
Newton-second/meter2 (N-s/m2). 1
centipoise = 0.001 Pa-s
 Liquids Viscosity (in Ns/m2)
at 20oC
Acetone (C3H6O) 3.16 x 10-4
Benzene (C6H6) 6.25 x 10-4
Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) 9.69 x 10-4
Diethyl ether (C2H5OC2H5) 2.33 x 10-4
Ethanol (C2H5OH) 1.20 x 10-3
Glycerol (C3H8O3) 1.49
Mercury (Hg) 1.55 x 10-3
Water (H2O) 1.01 x 10-3

Viscosities of liquids of selected substances

Given molecular structures of water and glycerol, can you tell
why glycerol has a higher viscosity than
water?

water glycerol
The larger number of –OH groups allow glycerol to form
more H-bonds with other glycerol molecules,
making its intermolecular forces stronger than those of
water, and its resistance to flow greater.
 Viscosities of some hydrocarbons
What causes the differences in viscosities of the hydrocarbons in the list?
The size of the molecules. The larger the molecule, even if it is nonpolar, the stronger
the intermolecular forces and the greater the viscosity compared to nonpolar
substances made up of small molecules.
 Viscosity decreases as temperature increases: hot molasses flows
much faster than cold molasses. The viscosities of some familiar liquids
in the table below were measured at 20 OC, except for lava (ranges
between 700 to 1200 OC.

Viscosities of some common liquids

VAPOR PRESSURE OF A LIQUID
Describe what is happening to the water molecules in the two
flasks shown in the picture.

Evaporation of water in open and in closed containers

Expected answer:
(a) The water molecules in the
liquid evaporate and go into the
vapor phase. In the open flask,
some of the water molecules in the
vapor phase find their way out of
the flask are lost to the
atmosphere.

(b) When a liquid evaporates to a

gas in a closed container, the
molecules cannot escape.
 When the rate of condensation of the gas becomes equal to the rate
of evaporation of the liquid, the gas in the container is said to be in
equilibrium with the liquid.
liquid ⇋ vapor (gas)
In this condition, the amount of gas and liquid no longer changes.
Define vapor pressure
Like any gas sample, the molecules in the gaseous state over its liquid
create a pressure. The greater the number of gaseous particles, the
greater the pressure exerted by the gas.
The pressure exerted by the gas in equilibrium with a liquid in a closed
container at a given temperature is called the equilibrium
vapor pressure or simply vapor pressure of the liquid.
The equilibrium vapor pressure is the maximum vapor pressure of a
liquid at a given temperature and that it is constant at a constant
temperature. It increases with temperature.
Vapor pressure is independent of the amount of liquid as well as the
surface area of the liquid in contact
with the gas.
 As the
temperature
increases, the
vapor
pressure of
water also
increases.

Vapor pressure of water vs. temperature

 Given in the graph
below are the vapor
pressures for four common
liquids: diethyl ether, ethyl
alcohol, water and
ethylene glycol, as a
function of temperature.
For all four liquids, the
vapor pressure increases
as temperature increases.

Vapor pressure of four common liquids,

shown as a function of temperature
 MOLAR HEAT OF VAPORIZATION AND
BOILING POINT
The relationship between vapor pressure and strength of
intermolecular forces is consistent with the
trends in two other properties of liquids, the enthalpy or molar
heat of vaporization, and the boiling
point of the liquid.
The molar heat of vaporization (ΔHvap) is the energy
required to vaporize 1 mole of a liquid at a given temperature.
H is the symbol for enthalpy, which means heat content at a
given standard condition.
It is easier to vaporize
acetone (lower Hvap) than Substance ΔHvap Boiling
water (higher Hvap) at a (kJ/ Point*
given temperature, and mol) (OC)
more acetone escapes into Argon (Ar) 6.3 -186
the vapor phase at a given Pentane(C5H12) 26.5 36.1
temperature. Acetone is a Acetone 30.3 56.5
polar substance but has no (CH3COCH3) 39.3 78.3
H-bonding. It has weaker Ethanol (C2H5OH) 40.79 100
intermolecular forces than Water (H2O)
water, and therefore
acetone molecules are held Molar heats of vaporization and boiling
less tightly to one another points of selected substances
in the liquid phase.
 The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which the
liquid converts into a gas. A more complete definition includes the vapor
pressure, and this is given below.
A liquid boils when its vapor pressure equals the pressure acting on the
surface of the liquid. The boiling point is the temperature at which the
vapor pressure of a liquid is equal to the external pressure.
The normal boiling point is the temperature at which the liquid
converts to a gas when the external pressure is 1 atm. The normal boiling
point of water is 100oC.
The boiling point of a liquid depends on the external pressure. For
example, at 1 atm, water boils at 100OC, but if the pressure is reduced to
0.5 atm, water boils at only 82 OC.
 The boiling point is related Substance Boiling ΔHvap

to molar heat of vaporization: Point* ( C)

O (kJ/mol)
the higher ΔHvap , the higher
the boiling point, as shown in
the table. Argon (Ar) -186 6.3
The boiling points of Benzene (C H ) 6 6 80.1 31.0
substances often reflect the Diethyl ether (C H OC H )
2 5 2 5 34.6 26.0
strength of the intermolecular Ethanol (C H OH)
2 5 78.3 39.3
forces operating among the Mercury (Hg) 357 59.0
molecules. At the BP, enough Methane (CH ) 4 -164 9.2
energy must be supplied to Water (H O) 2 100 40.79
overcome the attractive forces
among molecules before they
can enter the vapor phase. Boiling points and molar heats
of vaporization of selected
substances.
The Unique Properties of Water
1. Water is a good solvent.
A unique property of water is its ability to dissolve a large
variety of chemical substances. It dissolves salts and other ionic
compounds, as well as polar covalent compounds such as
alcohols and organic substances that are capable of forming
hydrogen bonds with water. Gases like oxygen and carbon
dioxide will dissolve in water meaning that some animals do not
need to breathe air in order to respire but they must still be able
to absorb oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide. Water is
sometimes called the universal solvent because it can dissolve
so many things.
2. Water has a high specific heat.
Specific heat is the amount of heat or energy needed to raise
the temperature of one gram of a
substance by 1oC. The specific heat of water is 1 calorie/g-oC
(4.18 J/g-oC), one of the highest for many liquids.
Water can absorb a large amount of heat even if its
temperature rises only slightly. To raise the temperature of
water, the intermolecular hydrogen bonds should break. The
converse is also true; water can give off much heat with only a
slight decrease in its temperature. This allows large bodies of
water to help moderate the temperature on earth.
3. The boiling point of water unusually high.
Many compounds similar in mass to water have much lower
boiling points. The strong intermolecular forces in water allow
it to be a liquid at a large range of temperatures.

Small water bodies like ponds are at risk of drying up in the

summer. But since the amount of energy
required to vaporize or evaporate water is so high, this is not
expected to happen quickly.
4. Solid water is less dense,
and in fact floats on liquid
water.
Unlike all other liquids, the molecules
in solid water are actually farther apart
than they are in liquid water. When solid
water forms, the hydrogen bonds result
in a very open structure with unoccupied
spaces, causing the solid to occupy a
larger volume than the liquid. This makes
The structure of ice.
ice less dense than liquid water, causing
ice to float on water.
 Relate this property to the survival of aquatic organisms in
temperate countries:
Water bodies freeze from the top down. If ice is not able to
float, the water bodies would freeze from top
to bottom, and aquatic life will be killed. Because ice floats,
aquatic organisms survive under the surface,
which remain liquid. The ice surface also acts as an insulating
layer protecting the water beneath from further
freezing, and maintains a temperature adequate for survival.
Without this feature, there would be no aquatic life
in temperate and Polar Regions.