Which has greater surface tension: ethanol or dimethyl ether?
1 Answer
Jul 30, 2017
Ethanol will have a greater surface tension than dimethyl ether
Explanation:
Surface tension will depend on the intermolecular forces in a compund. Ethanol has an oxygen bonded with a hydrogen meaning that one of the forces is hydrogen bonding whereas dimethyl ether's intermolecular forces are dipole-dipole. So since hydrogen bonds>dipole-diple, ethanol will have greater suface tension.
