Why does the boiling point of alkanes decrease with increase in branch

1.	Why does the boiling point of alkanes decrease with increase in branching?
Answer» Alkanes with stronger INTERMOLECULAR van der WAALS forces have HIGHER boiling point. With increase in the BRANCHING, the surface area of the molecule decreases and vander waals forces of attraction decreases which can be overcome at a relatively lower temperature. Hence, the boiling point of an ALKANE chain decreased with an increase in branching.

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