Why does iodine have a higher boiling point than chlorine?

Neither iodine or chlorine have permanent dipoles because there is no difference in electronegativity between the atoms, so there are no permanent dipole : permanent dipole interactions. There are also no hydrogen bonds, so the only intermolecular interactions involved are instantaneous dipole : induced dipole attractions.
Iodine is a larger molecule than chlorine, meaning it has more electrons. Therefore the London forces between neighbouring iodine molecules are stronger than those between neighbouring chlorine molecules. This means that they require more energy to overcome and hence the boiling point is higher.

EE

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Why is scandium not considered a true transition metal?


Explain, in the context of catalysis, the term heterogeneous and describe the first stage in the mechanism of this type of catalysis.


There are two stable isotopes of Bromine, Br-79, Br-81. If a sample of Br2 is fed into a mass spectrometer, how many peaks would be observed in the spectrum?


1.5 g of hydrocarbon undergoes complete combustion to give 4.4 g of CO2 and 2.7 g of H2O. Given this data, what is the empirical formula of this hydrocarbon?