The intermolecular forces have important contribution in helping
us to understand the interaction between atoms in same or
different kind of molecules. The interaction can involve polar
or non polar molecules and ions. There are three common
intermolecular forces and this module will focus more in-depth
the interaction involving polar molecules and interaction
between polar molecules and ions. Dipole moment (µ) is the
measure of net molecular polarity, which is the magnitude of the
charge Q at either end of the molecular dipole times the
distance r between the charges. µ= Q X r Dipole moments tell us
about the charge separation in a molecule. The larger the
difference in electronegativities of bonded atoms, the larger
the dipole moment. For example, NaCl has the highest dipole
moment because it has an ionic bond (i.e. highest charge
separation). For example, in CH3Cl molecule, chlorine is more
electronegative than carbon, thus attracting the electrons in
the C—Cl bond toward itself (Figure 1). As a result, ch