What is the difference between an intermolecular force and a chemical bond?

Chemical bonds, which are INTRAmolecular and form when two atoms share or transfer electrons to stay stable, are the strong forces that join atoms to form molecules and compounds.

Use table salt (NaCl) as an illustration.

In order to maintain stability, sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) both have positive charges (+1 and -1, respectively); to do this, the two atoms essentially "team up"; sodium offers to give up its electron, which chlorine voluntarily accepts; as a result, they have a chemical bond, or more precisely, an ionic bond.

Another illustration is carbon dioxide, or CO2, where oxygen has six valence electrons and carbon has four.

With the exception of hydrogen, all atoms up to the second row are content when they have eight valence electrons. As a result, carbon and the two oxygen atoms intend to share electrons with one another; this type of chemical bond is known as a covalent bond.

Intermolecular forces are present in almost all compounds, molecules, and atoms. They are caused by molecular polarity, as opposed to chemical bonds, which are formed when two atoms intend to remain stable.

Intermolecular forces hold water molecules together; when these forces are strongest, the result is ice; when they are medium, the result is liquid water; and when they are weak, the result is water vapor.

Chemical bonds are more easily broken than intermolecular forces, which essentially exist in four forms: London dispersion, Dipole-Dipole, Hydrogen, and Ion-Dipole.

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The main difference between an intermolecular force and a chemical bond is that intermolecular forces are weak attractive forces between molecules, while chemical bonds are strong forces that hold atoms together within a molecule.