Properties of Liquids and

Intermolecular Forces
By CHERIDES P. MARIANO
 Vocabularies
• ___1. a gas or a liquid; a • Word bank
substance that can flow • A. surface tension
• ___2. the measure of the elastic • B. capillary action
force in the surface of a liquid. It
is the energy required to stretch or • C. fluid
increase the surface of a liquid by
a unit area.
• ___3. the tendency of a liquid to
rise in narrow tubes or to be
drawn into small openings.
 • ___4. a measure of a fluid’s
resistance to flow

Vocabularies • ___5. a gaseous substance that exist

naturally as a liquid or solid at
normal temperature
-vaporization • ___6. the change of phase from
-viscosity liquid to vapor (gaseous phase)
-vapor • ___7. the equilibrium pressure of a
vapor above its liquid; that is, the
-vapor pressure of a liquid pressure exerted by the vapor above
the surface of the liquid in a closed
container
 vocabularies • - the temperature at which
a liquid boils
-molar heat of
• -the energy (kJ) required to
vaporization
vaporize 1 mole of a liquid
- Boiling point at a given temperature
 explore

• Activity 1
• -LIQUID AND CHARGED OBJECT
• *Q – How the rubbed comb affected the stream of liquid?
• Act 2 – Liquid and drops on plastic sheet
• *Q-What is the appearance of the drops of the liquid samples
on the plastic sheet?
 explore
• Act. 3 – Liquid and blade/paper clip on the surface
• *Q-Did the blade/paper clip float on the surface of the liquids?
 Properties of Liquid and IMF
• 1. 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.
 Properties of liquids
• * liquids with strong intermolecular forces also have high surface tension.
• The IMF tend to pull the molecules into the liquid and cause the surface to
tighten like an elastic film or “skin”
• Ex. H2O – strong H-bonds

Figure 3. Water strider walking on the surface of a quiet pond. (Image Source: http://
Figure 2. Intermolecular forces that act on molecules of a liquid. (Image Source: hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/surten.html)
www.bville.org/.../AP%20Chapter%2011%20Intermolecular%20Forces)
 Properties of water
• 2. 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 rock.
• - also known as capillarity, a result of intermolecular
attraction between the liquid and solid materials.
Explain capillary action in terms
of attractive forces formed by
molecules of the liquid and
those that make up the tubes.
 Properties of Liquids
• Two types of forces are involved in capillary action:
• Cohesion is the intermolecular attraction between like
molecules (the liquid molecules).
• 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
 Properties of Liquid and IMF
• 3. Viscosity – a measure of a fluids
resistance to flow
• - the slower the liquid flows, the
greater the viscosity
• -expressed in units of centipoise (1
centipoise=0.001Pa-s
• Water has viscosity of 1 centipoise
or 0.001Pa/s at 200C
Properties of Liquid and IMF

Given molecular
structures of
water and
glycerol, why
glycerol has a
higher viscosity
than water?
Given molecular
structures of water
and glycerol, why
glycerol has a
higher viscosity
than water?
Expected answer:
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.
All the substances in the list are hydrocarbons and nonpolar.
What causes the differences in viscosities of the hydrocarbons in the list?
Liquids that have strong intermolecular forces have
higher viscosities than those that have weak
intermolecular forces.
What effect temperature would have on viscosity of liquids?
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.
 Properties of Liquids

• 4. Vapor pressure
• What is happening to
the water molecules
in the two flasks?

Figure 9. 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.
 Properties of Liquid
• 4. Vapor pressure – the pressure exerted by the gas in
equilibrium with a liquid in a closed container at a given
temperature.
• - also called equilibrium vapor pressure
• - maximum vapor pressure of a liquid at a given
temperature and that it is constant at a constant temperature.
It increases with temperature.
 T = KE = VP
T = KE = VP

Figure 11 . Vapor pressure of water vs. temperature

As the temperature increases, the vapor pressure of water also increases.

Figure 12 Vapor pressure of four common liquids, shown as a function of temperature
Consider the vapor pressures of the following substances.
Relate vapor pressure to strength of
intermolecular forces.
The stronger the intermolecular forces of
attraction, the lower the vapor pressure of a
liquid.
 Properties of Liquids

• 5. Molar heat of vaporization (enthalpy) ( H vap)

– the energy required to vaporize 1 mole of a liquid at a
given temperature.
• - heat content at a given standard condition.
Table 4 . Molar heats of vaporization and boiling
points of selected substances at 1 atm
 Relate molar heat of vaporization to
strength of intermolecular forces

A practical way to demonstrate differences in the molar heat

of vaporization is by rubbing acetone on your hands. Compare
what is felt when water is used.
Acetone has a lower ΔHvap than water so that heat from our
hands is enough to increase the kinetic energy of the molecules
and provide additional heat to vaporize them. As a result of the
loss of heat from the skin, our hands feel cool.
 Properties of Liquids

• 6. Boiling point of a liquid – the

temperature at which the liquid converts into
a gas.
• - the temperature at which the vapor
pressure of a liquid is equal to the external
pressure.
 Properties of liquid
• Normal boiling point – the temperature at which the liquid converts to a
gas when the external pressure is 1 atm.
• ex. The normal BP of water is 1000C
• The boiling point of a liquid depends on the external pressure.
• Ex. at 1 atm, water boils at 100OC, but if the pressure is reduced to
• 0.5 atm, water boils at only 82 OC.
Relate boiling point to molar heat of vaporization.
the higher ΔHvap , the higher the boiling point.

The boiling points of substances often reflect the strength of the

intermolecular forces operating among the molecules. At the BP,
enough energy must be supplied to overcome the attractive forces
among molecules before they can enter the vapor phase.
Table 4. Boiling points and molar heats of vaporization of selected
substances at 1atm.
PRACTICE (10 MINS)
At 50 0C the vapor pressure of ethanol is 0.30 atm, acetic
acid is 0.08 atm, water is 0.12 atm, and acetone is 0.84
atm.

A. Arrange these substances in order of increasing rates

of evaporation.

B. Arrange these substances in order of increasing boiling

point temperature.

C. Arrange these substances in order of increasing

intermolecular forces.