2.2 Intramolecular Force and Potential Energy

What is a useful representation for describing the interactions between atoms?

A graph of potential energy vs distance between atoms

Graphs of potential energy vs distance between atoms illustrate:

Equilibrium bond length and bond energy

The separation between atoms at which the potential energy is lowest

Equilibrium bond length

The energy required to separate atoms

Bond energy

In a covalent bond, the bond length is influenced by:

Size of atom’s core and bond order

Examples of bond order:

Single, double, triple

Bonds with a higher order are longer/shorter

Shorter

Bonds with a higher order have larger/smaller bond energies

Larger

What can be used to understand the strength of interactions between cations and anions?

Coulomb’s law

Larger charges lead to stronger/weaker interactions

Stronger

Why do larger charges lead to stronger interactions?

Interaction strength is proportional to the charge on each ion

Smaller ions lead to stronger/weaker interactions

Stronger

Why do smaller ions lead to stronger interactions?

Interaction strength increases as the distance between the nuclei decreases

Nuclei means:

Centers of ions