Hydrogen and Diamond bonding

[jaggers]

This is a question that not even my geeky friends can answer! Let's see if any of you lot are smart enough though...

Both hydrogen and diamond are covalently bonded. Hydrogen is a gas at room temperature but diamond is a solid with a high melting point. Explain this difference in properties. Refer to the bonding in hydrogen and diamond in your answer. (4 marks)

[steveb]

the covalent bond reffered to describes an intra-molecular bond within the molecules. in hydrogen two areatoms covalently bonded together. then the molecules are bonded together by relatively weak van der waals bonds. in diamond it's one big molecule, not lots of molecules bonded together by weak forces.

all the bonds in diamond are extremely strong bonds, this is the reason its the hardest know substance.

the weak bonds between the hydrogen atoms are easily broken and so at quite a low temperature it becomes a gas as little thermal energy i needed to break them

[Gef]

4 marks for jaggers for his chemistry. Probably 1 out of 4 for his English language skills - only joking :-)

[brachiopod]

You've got to get 'macromolecule' in their somewhere - surely worth one mark !

This seemed to be my chemistry teacher's favourite word (though that was more than 20 years ago).

[Skids]

Do your own homework.

[steveb]

lol sorry my english is rubbish, im studying A level chemistry not english, and lol skids

[Gef]

Sorry steveb I should have congratulated you on your chemistry not jaggers. Good luck with the A level, I passed mine 35 years ago and my English was not my best subject either.