Intermolecular Forces of Attraction Between Two Molecules of Acrylic Acid

Between two molecules of acrylic acid, all three of the Intermolecular Forces of Attraction are present. These forces being London Dispersion Forces, Dipole-Dipole Forces, and Hydrogen Bonding.

The first force present is London Dispersion. London Dispersion forces are present in all molecules, non-polar and polar, and are the forces of attraction between two molecules that creates temporary dipoles which are caused by the movement of electrons around two atoms. Because acrylic acid is a polar molecule, one end will become temporarily positive and one end will temporarily become negative via this attraction. This weak force of attraction will attract the two molecules.

The second force present is Dipole-Dipole. Dipole-Dipole, unlike London Dispersion are only forces of attraction between two polar molecules only, for non-polar molecules can only be attracted by London Dispersion Forces!  A Dipole-Dipole force is an electrostatic attraction caused by the positive end of one dipole being attracted to the negative end of another dipole. The dashed line in the image below shows this electrostatic attraction between Hydrogen and Oxygen.

The third force present is a special case of a Dipole-Dipole force and is known as a Hydrogen Bond. A Hydrogen Bond is an attraction in which temporary covalent bonds are made by adjacent molecules by a hydrogen atom on one molecule attracting to a fluorine, oxygen or nitrogen atom on an adjacent molecule. In this particular case, the electrostatic attraction can also be a Hydrogen Bond, temporarily made.