Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

while researching for my background essay i found a contradiction....in an encyclopedia at the library it stated that double bonds are weaker than single bonds, but on Grolier online it stated that triple bonds are stronger than double bonds and double bonds are stronger than single bonds. Which one is true and is what i want to discuss in my paper?

Hi - I just checked "Prentice Hall Chemistry, California", Wilbraham, Staley, Matta & Waterman, 2007, and it has this to say:

A large bond dissociation energy corresponds to a strong covalent bond. A typical carbon-carbon single bond has a bond dissociation energy of 347 kJ/mol. Typical carbon-carbon double and triple bonds have bond dissociation energies of 657 kJ/mol and 908 kJ/mol, respectively.

You can see the trend here. For more information I would use your search engine to look at bond dissociation energies.

Keith

The previous answer is for carbon to carbon bonds. For other double/single bonds, like O=C=O, O=CH2, vs HO-CH2, the opposite is likely true. As the previous responder stated, you will have to look up the disassociation energies for the specific bonds you are interested in.