Question

What are the physical properties of liquids?

Answer 1

Liquids:

• The intermolecular forces in a liquid are weaker than that of a solid.
• A liquid has a definite volume but the shape of a liquid is not fixed.

Physical properties of liquids:

1. Viscosity:

• Viscosity is a tendency of a liquid/gas to flow that depends on the intermolecular attractions.
• For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness".
• Ethanol is a liquid solute in alcohols.

2. Adhesion:

• Adhesion is the tendency of a compound to interact with another compound.
• It explains how liquids interact with other liquids placed in a container.
• An example of high adhesion is between water and glass.

3. Cohesion:

• Cohesion describes how water molecules interact with each other.
• London dispersion forces are the intermolecular forces that are present in most oils/organic liquid.