What is the effect of increasing the carbon chain length on the boiling point of aldehydes?
Correct Answer: Boiling point increases with carbon chain length.
- Step 1: Understand what aldehydes are. Aldehydes are organic compounds that contain a carbonyl group (C=O) at the end of a carbon chain.
- Step 2: Know that boiling point is the temperature at which a liquid turns into a gas.
- Step 3: Learn about carbon chain length. The carbon chain length refers to the number of carbon atoms in the molecule.
- Step 4: Recognize that as the carbon chain length increases, there are more carbon atoms in the aldehyde.
- Step 5: Understand that more carbon atoms mean more surface area for interactions between molecules.
- Step 6: Identify that these interactions are called van der Waals forces, which are weak attractions between molecules.
- Step 7: Realize that stronger van der Waals forces require more energy to overcome, leading to a higher boiling point.
- Step 8: Conclude that as the carbon chain length increases, the boiling point of aldehydes increases due to stronger van der Waals forces.
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