Q.Why is there a large difference between the melting and boiling points of oxygen and sulfur ?
O is a small diatomic molecule with weak van der Waals attractions; S is a large polyatomic molecule with strong ones -- hence the large gap in melting and boiling points.
Step 1. Oxygen exists as a diatomic molecule (O) whereas sulfur exists as a polyatomic molecule (S).
Step 2. Van der Waals (dispersion) forces grow with molecular size and surface area. Between the much smaller O molecules these attractions are relatively weak, so very little thermal energy is needed to separate them.
Step 3. The large S molecules exert much stronger van der Waals attractions on each other because of their large molecular size, so much more energy is needed to melt or boil sulfur.
The large van der Waals attractive forces in the S molecules arise from their large molecular size; therefore oxygen has low m.p. and b.p. as compared to sulfur.
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