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in brief...

- molecules of methane are bonded by dispersion forces

- dispersion forces are the weakest form of intermolecular bonding, meaning that there is only a small amount of energy (or heat) required to break the weak dispersion forces between the methane molecules

- because there is not much heat required to break dispersion forces - we can understand why methane boils so easily and at such a low temperature

[explanation of dispersion forces in more detail...

- electrons inside an atom move around the nucleus randomly

- it is likely that, at any one instant, there may be more electrons on one side of the nucleus than the other

- this results in one side of the atom being more negatively charged than the other at this instant (the side with more electrons on it than the other would obviously be more negatively charged)

- now to explain how this applies to intermolecular bonding...well - to make things easier, I'll name one molecule BOB and another STEVE. imagine that STEVE is standing to BOB's left. if say, we froze time - and at that instant there were more electrons on the left hand side of BOB's body - the left hand side of BOB would become negatively charged. the electrons inside STEVE (who is standing to BOB's left) would suddenly be repelled to his left, as far away from the negative side of BOB as possible. thus the right hand side of STEVE would become positively charged while the left hand side of STEVE would become negatively charged just like BOB. this would continue on in a domino kind of a way to surrounding molecules - and the attraction between the negatively charged side of BOB and the positively charged side of STEVE is what we call dispersion forces.

in more scientific terms: dispersion forces are the attraction that exists between molecules because of the temporary dipoles (differences in charge of one side of a molecule to the other) that form as electrons move randomly

- dispersion forces are very, very weak - which explains why molecules that are bonded in this form have such low boiling temperatures]

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Curt Eichmann

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3y ago

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