Hello, beautiful people,
I am presently comparing the melting points and the boiling points of a series of cycloalkanes and their isomers. Attached (below) are the figures representing two graphs:
1) Comparison of melting points between a series of cycloalkanes and their isomers;
2) Comparison of boiling points between a series of cycloalkanes and their isomers.
The x-axis represents the number of carbon atoms on the molecule whereas the y-axis represents the temperature (m.p. or b.p.) in degrees Celsius. I have observed from the graphs that the temperature (m.p. and b.p.) of the isomer series tend to be lower than the series of cycloalkanes. Also, the temperature (m.p. or b.p.) tend to increase with the number of atoms in the molecule.
The molecules of interest are, for the series of cycloalkanes, cyclopropane (3 carb atoms), cyclobutane (4), cyclopentane (5), cyclohexane (6), cycloheptane (7), cyclooctane (8), cyclononane (9) and cyclodecane (10). As for the isomer series, they are propene (3), 1-butene (4), 1-pentene (5), 1-hexene (6), 1-heptene (7), 1-octene (8), 1-nonene (9) and 1-decene (10).
I also observe that the difference, for the melting points, between the two series is far greater than for the boiling points (The y and x-axis have the same graduations). I cannot explain this phenomenon. Can anyone help me advance hypothesis of enlighten me with theories that might explain this?
Thank you very much.
Neo60
OP/N: I apologize in advance for any English mistakes in the post, as it is my third language, as well as for the graphs, that are in French. Also, I have just finished 12th grade, so if you would use advanced theory to support a hypothesis for the phenomenon I have observed above, please, explain it as you would to a student who haven't had his or her first Organic Chem's class, yet.