Question

Given neon, water, sodium chloride, and methanol, how would the intermolecular forces of attraction compare? How would we assess the strength of intermolecular interaction?

Answer 1

Well, sodium chloride is NON-MOLECULAR, and so cannot be fairly compared to the molecular compounds........

Explanation:

Of the molecular compounds, clearly water has the strongest intermolecular force, by reason of strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding. And this can be assessed by examining the normal boiling points of the three substances: `100` `""^@C`; `64.7` `""^@C`; `-246.1` `""^@C`. Which boiling point corresponds to which substance?

On the other hand, non-molecular sodium chloride would have a boiling point so high as to be almost unmeasurable. Why? Because melting and boiling requires enuff energy to overcome the STRONG electrostatic bonds that persist over the entire lattice.