There are two kinds of forces, or attractions, that operate in a molecule

—intramolecular and intermolecular. Let's try to understand this

difference through the following example.

We have six towels—three are purple in colour, labelled hydrogen and

three are pink in colour, labelled chlorine. We are given a sewing needle
and black thread to sew one hydrogen towel to one chlorine towel. After
sewing, we now have three pairs of towels: hydrogen sewed to chlorine.
The next step is to attach these three pairs of towels to each other. For
this we use Velcro as shown above.
So, the result of this exercise is that we have six towels attached to each
other through thread and Velcro. Now if I ask you to pull this assembly
from both ends, what do you think will happen? The Velcro junctions will
fall apart while the sewed junctions will stay as is. The attachment
created by Velcro is much weaker than the attachment created by the
thread that we used to sew the pairs of towels together. A slight force
applied to either end of the towels can easily bring apart the Velcro
junctions without tearing apart the sewed junctions.
Exactly the same situation exists in molecules. Just imagine the towels
to be real atoms, such as hydrogen and chlorine. These two atoms are
bound to each other through a polar covalent bond—analogous to the
thread. Each hydrogen chloride molecule in turn is bonded to the
neighbouring hydrogen chloride molecule through a dipole-dipole
attraction—analogous to Velcro. We’ll talk about dipole-dipole
interactions in detail a bit later. The polar covalent bond is much stronger
in strength than the dipole-dipole interaction. The former is termed
an intramolecular attraction while the latter is termed an intermolecular
attraction.

So now we can define the two forces:

Intramolecular forces are the forces that hold atoms together within a
molecule. Intermolecular forces are forces that exist between molecules.
Types of intramolecular forces of attraction
1. Ionic bond: This bond is formed by the complete transfer of
valence electron(s) between atoms. It is a type of chemical bond
that generates two oppositely charged ions. In ionic bonds, the
metal loses electrons to become a positively charged cation,
whereas the nonmetal accepts those electrons to become a
negatively charged anion.

2. Covalent bond: This bond is formed between atoms that have

similar electronegativities—the affinity or desire for electrons.
Because both atoms have similar affinity for electrons and neither
has a tendency to donate them, they share electrons in order to
achieve octet configuration and become more stable.

A nonpolar covalent bond is formed between same atoms or atoms

with very similar electronegativities—the difference in electronegativity
between bonded atoms is less than 0.5.

A polar covalent bond is formed when atoms of slightly different

electronegativities share electrons. The difference in electronegativity
between bonded atoms is between 0.5 and 1.9. Hydrogen chloride, HCl;
the O-H bonds in water, H2O; and hydrogen fluoride, HF, are all
examples of polar covalent bonds.
 3. Metallic bonding: This type of covalent bonding specifically
occurs between atoms of metals, in which the valence electrons
are free to move through the lattice. This bond is formed via the
attraction of the mobile electrons—referred to as sea of electrons
—and the fixed positively charged metal ions. Metallic bonds are
present in samples of pure elemental metals, such as gold or
aluminium, or alloys, like brass or bronze.

The freely moving electrons in metals are responsible for their reflecting
property—freely moving electrons oscillate and give off photons of light
—and their ability to effectively conduct heat and electricity.
Relative strength of the intramolecular forces
Intramolecular Basis of formation Relative
force strength
Metallic bond Metal cations to delocalized 1, strongest
electrons
Ionic bond Cations to anions 2
Polar covalent bond Partially charged cation to 3
partially charged anion
Nonpolar covalent Nuclei to shared electrons 4, weakest
bond

Intermolecular forces of attraction

Now let’s talk about the intermolecular forces that exist between
molecules. Intermolecular forces are much weaker than the
intramolecular forces of attraction but are important because they
determine the physical properties of molecules like their boiling point,
melting point, density, and enthalpies of fusion and vaporization.

Types of intermolecular forces that exist between molecules

1. Dipole-dipole interactions: These forces occur when the partially
positively charged part of a molecule interacts with the partially
negatively charged part of the neighbouring molecule. The
prerequisite for this type of attraction to exist is partially charged
ions—for example, the case of polar covalent bonds such as
hydrogen chloride, HCl. Dipole-dipole interactions are the
strongest intermolecular force of attraction.
2. Hydrogen bonding: This is a special kind of dipole-dipole
interaction that occurs specifically between a hydrogen atom
bonded to either an oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine atom. The
partially positive end of hydrogen is attracted to the partially
negative end of the oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine of another
molecule. Hydrogen bonding is a relatively strong force of
attraction between molecules, and considerable energy is required
to break hydrogen bonds. This explains the exceptionally high
boiling points and melting points of compounds like water, H2O,
and hydrogen fluoride, HF. Hydrogen bonding plays an important
role in biology; for example, hydrogen bonds are responsible for
holding nucleotide bases together in DNA and RNA.

3. London dispersion forces, under the category of van der Waal

forces: These are the weakest of the intermolecular forces and
exist between all types of molecules, whether ionic or covalent—
polar or nonpolar. The more electrons a molecule has, the stronger
the London dispersion forces are. For example, bromine, Br2, has
more electrons than chlorine, Cl, so bromine will have stronger
London dispersion forces than chlorine, resulting in a higher boiling
point for bromine, 59ºC, compared to chlorine, –35ºC. Also, the
breaking of London dispersion forces doesn’t require that much
energy, which explains why nonpolar covalent compounds like
methane—CH4—oxygen, and nitrogen—which only have London
 dispersion forces of attraction between the molecules—freeze at
very low temperatures.

Relative strength of intermolecular forces of attraction

Intermolecular Occurs between … Relative strength
force
Dipole-dipole Partially oppositely Strong
attraction charged ions
Hydrogen bonding H atom and O,N or F Strongest of the dipole-
atom dipole attractions
London dispersion Temporary or Weakest
attraction induced dipoles

How forces of attraction affect properties of compounds

Polar covalent compounds—like hydrogen chloride, HCl and hydrogen
iodide, HI have dipole-dipole interactions between partially charged
ions and London dispersion forces between molecules. Nonpolar
covalent compounds—like methane, CH4 and nitrogen gas, N2—
only have London dispersion forces between molecules. The rule of
thumb is that the stronger the intermolecular forces of attraction, the
more energy is required to break those forces. This translates into ionic
and polar covalent compounds having higher boiling and melting points,
higher enthalpy of fusion, and higher enthalpy of vaporization than
covalent compounds.
Boiling and melting points of compounds depend on the type and
strength of the intermolecular forces present, as tabulated below:
Type of Intermolecular forces present Relative order
compound of boiling and
melting points
Ionic compounds Ion to ion attraction between 1, highest)
ions, London dispersion forces
Covalent Hydrogen bonds, London 2
compounds dispersion forces
containing
hydrogen bonds
Polar covalent Dipole-dipole attraction 3
compounds between dipoles created by
partially charged ions, London
dispersion forces
Nonpolar covalent London dispersion forces 4, lowest
compounds

Let’s try to identify the different kinds of intermolecular forces present in

some molecules.
1. H2S—London dispersion force—by default every compound will
have this force of attraction between molecules—and dipole-dipole
attraction
2. CH3OH—London dispersion force, dipole-dipole attraction, and
hydrogen bonding

3. C2H6—London dispersion forces—it’s a nonpolar covalent

compound— and no other intermolecular attractions