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10.3 Phase transitions  (Page 2/21)

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Explaining vapor pressure in terms of imfs

Given the shown structural formulas for these four compounds, explain their relative vapor pressures in terms of types and extents of IMFs:

Four Lewis structures are shown. The first structure, labeled “ethanol,” shows a carbon bonded to three hydrogen atoms that is single bonded to a second carbon that is bonded to two hydrogen atoms and a hydroxyl group. The second structure, labeled “ethylene glycol, shows two carbon atoms, single bonded to one another, single bonded each to two hydrogen atoms, and each single bonded to a hydroxyl group. The third image, labeled “diethyl ether,” shows an oxygen atom single bonded on both sides to a carbon that is bonded to two hydrogens, and a second carbon, that is itself bonded to three hydrogen atoms. The fourth image, labeled “water,” shows an oxygen atom that is single bonded on both sides to hydrogen atoms.

Solution

Diethyl ether has a very small dipole and most of its intermolecular attractions are London forces. Although this molecule is the largest of the four under consideration, its IMFs are the weakest and, as a result, its molecules most readily escape from the liquid. It also has the highest vapor pressure. Due to its smaller size, ethanol exhibits weaker dispersion forces than diethyl ether. However, ethanol is capable of hydrogen bonding and, therefore, exhibits stronger overall IMFs, which means that fewer molecules escape from the liquid at any given temperature, and so ethanol has a lower vapor pressure than diethyl ether. Water is much smaller than either of the previous substances and exhibits weaker dispersion forces, but its extensive hydrogen bonding provides stronger intermolecular attractions, fewer molecules escaping the liquid, and a lower vapor pressure than for either diethyl ether or ethanol. Ethylene glycol has two −OH groups, so, like water, it exhibits extensive hydrogen bonding. It is much larger than water and thus experiences larger London forces. Its overall IMFs are the largest of these four substances, which means its vaporization rate will be the slowest and, consequently, its vapor pressure the lowest.

Check your learning

At 20 °C, the vapor pressures of several alcohols are given in this table. Explain these vapor pressures in terms of types and extents of IMFs for these alcohols:

Compound methanol CH 3 OH ethanol C 2 H 5 OH propanol C 3 H 7 OH butanol C 4 H 9 OH
Vapor Pressure at 20 °C 11.9 kPa 5.95 kPa 2.67 kPa 0.56 kPa

Answer:

All these compounds exhibit hydrogen bonding; these strong IMFs are difficult for the molecules to overcome, so the vapor pressures are relatively low. As the size of molecule increases from methanol to butanol, dispersion forces increase, which means that the vapor pressures decrease as observed:
P methanol >P ethanol >P propanol >P butanol .

As temperature increases, the vapor pressure of a liquid also increases due to the increased average KE of its molecules. Recall that at any given temperature, the molecules of a substance experience a range of kinetic energies, with a certain fraction of molecules having a sufficient energy to overcome IMF and escape the liquid (vaporize). At a higher temperature, a greater fraction of molecules have enough energy to escape from the liquid, as shown in [link] . The escape of more molecules per unit of time and the greater average speed of the molecules that escape both contribute to the higher vapor pressure.

A graph is shown where the y-axis is labeled “Number of molecules” and the x-axis is labeled “Kinetic Energy.” Two lines are graphed and a vertical dotted line, labeled “Minimum K E needed to escape,” is drawn halfway across the x-axis. The first line move sharply upward and has a high peak near the left side of the x-axis. It drops just as steeply and ends about 60 percent of the way across the x-axis. This line is labeled “Low T.” A second line, labeled “High T,” begins at the same point as the first, but does not go to such a high point, is wider, and ends slightly further to the right on the x-axis.
Temperature affects the distribution of kinetic energies for the molecules in a liquid. At the higher temperature, more molecules have the necessary kinetic energy, KE, to escape from the liquid into the gas phase.

Boiling points

When the vapor pressure increases enough to equal the external atmospheric pressure, the liquid reaches its boiling point. The boiling point    of a liquid is the temperature at which its equilibrium vapor pressure is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by its gaseous surroundings. For liquids in open containers, this pressure is that due to the earth’s atmosphere. The normal boiling point    of a liquid is defined as its boiling point when surrounding pressure is equal to 1 atm (101.3 kPa). [link] shows the variation in vapor pressure with temperature for several different substances. Considering the definition of boiling point, these curves may be seen as depicting the dependence of a liquid’s boiling point on surrounding pressure.
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Source:  OpenStax, Chemistry. OpenStax CNX. May 20, 2015 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11760/1.9
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