Popular Resources for Teaching Intermolecular Forces

This article highlights some of the most popular resources for an Intermolecular Forces unit. For more ideas, visit the chemical bonding unit plan.

The top resource used by teachers in a unit on intermolecular forces is the Intermolecular Forces simulation and the accompanying activity. It is also one of our best simulations, as visualizing the properties of electrons that cause London dispersion forces can be difficult. 

Our second most popular resource is the Comparing Attractive Forces simulation, produced by the Concord Consortium, and the accompanying activity. This simulation focuses more on the contrast between the strength of London dispersion forces and hydrogen bonding, using the molecules of H₂ and HF.

The last popular resource this article will highlight is the Chemistry of Hand Sanitizer and Soap Lab. In this lab, students will model the interaction between hand sanitizer particles and virus particles, as well as between soap particles and virus particles. They will apply their understanding of molecular structure and intermolecular forces to gain a better understanding of how soaps and sanitizers work.

We hope that these activities can help you to reinforce several of the topics covered in a unit about intermolecular forces. Most of these lessons were made possible by great teachers who shared their own resources. We need your help to keep the collection growing. Do you have a great demonstration, activity, or lesson related to this topic that you would like to share with the community? Please send it along for consideration.