THE ELECTROSTATIC FORCE APPLIED TO TEACHING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES

Abstract

The unique fundamental force related to chemical bonds, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals interactions is the electromagnetic force, where the electrostatic force plays the major role. But, to our knowledge, no paper so far has explored the use of the electrostatic force explicitly to account for any molecular property (boiling point, solubility, etc.), except for the book Introductory Organic Chemistry and Hydrocarbons.1 This work uses the electrostatic force applied to chemistry to explain some molecular properties in organic chemistry. It also evaluates the understanding of Brazilian undergraduate students with respect to some topics of organic chemistry based on the electrostatic force. One questionnaire was applied to chemistry undergraduate students about Coulomb’s law and its application to organic chemistry, and the results indicate that most undergraduate students understand the electrostatic force equation applied to chemical education.

Keywords

• Coulomb’s law
• electrostatic force
• hydrogen bond
• van der Waals interactions
• covalent bond