'Stability of a crystal is reflected in the magnitude of its melting points'. Comment. Collect melting points of solid water, ethyl alcohol, diethyl ether and methane from a data book. What can you say about the intermolecular forces between these molecules?
The melting points of the given substance are as follows:
Solid water – 273 K
Ethyl alcohol – 158.8 K
Diethyl ether – 156.85 K
Methane – 89.34 K
As we can see the melting point of solid water is highest and melting point of methane is lowest among the given substance. This says that intermolecular force in solid water is strongest and the intermolecular force in methane is weakest.