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Why is ethanol LESS volatile than ethane?

Answer 1

Ethyl alcohol possesses STRONG INTERMOLECULAR interaction....

And ethane only offers the possibility of weaker dispersion forces between molecules, and has a boiling point of #-89# #""^@C#. On the other hand, ethyl alcohol has a boiling point of #78# #""^@C#, and this reflects the influence of hydrogen-bonding as a binding force between molecules.

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Answer 2

Owen Ambrose

Ethanol is less volatile than ethane because ethanol has stronger intermolecular forces due to hydrogen bonding between its molecules, which requires more energy to overcome, compared to the weaker London dispersion forces present in ethane.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.