Answer to Question #43486 in Chemistry for tahir ali

Question

Is it right to say that carbon compounds usually have low melting points & low boiling points because they have covalent bonds.Please help me with explanatory answer.

Answer 1

Carbon compounds usually have low melting points and low boiling points. This fact is explained by weak interactions between particles in the compound. Carbon compounds usually have a molecular structure. It means that there are strong bonds between atoms in the molecule, but intermolecular bonds (van der Waals forces) are rather weak. Thus, the system doesn’t require a lot of energy to break ordered structure in solid state (low melting point) or break clusters of molecules in liquids (low boiling point).