Skip to main content
Ch.11 - Liquids and Intermolecular Forces

Chapter 11, Problem 11a

List the three states of matter in order of (a) increasing molecular disorder

Verified Solution
Video duration:
2m
This video solution was recommended by our tutors as helpful for the problem above.
481
views
Was this helpful?

Video transcript

Hello, everyone. Today, we are being asked the following question, solid liquid or gas, which will have the greatest molecular disorder. So with that being said, let's run through these. So we have a solid and in a solid atoms, molecules or particles are going to be very ordered, they're going to be rigid and they're going to be very closely packed and they tend to be held by what we call strong bonds, strong bones or strong inter molecular forces. Liquids are going to be close but not as close as solids, not as close as solids. And so they essentially what a defining moment is, they have the freedom to move about and they move about whichever space they're occupying. And lastly with a gas or gasses, these particles are spread very far apart. And a defining moment is that they move in random motion and they're typically not limited and they also tend to have the weakest inter molecular forces. And so based on these definitions, the greatest molecular disorder, if we define disorder as being random motion in a system, we can confidently say that gasses will have the greatest molecular disorder. And with that, we've answered the question overall, I hope this helped. And until next time.