Why does the boiling and freezing-point of non-polar molecules rise with increasing molecular mass?

Question

In the section about fuels, my textbook mentions that the boiling and freezing-points of alkanes (which are non-polar) increase with an increase in molecular mass due to London dispersion forces.

Now, I understand what these are and why they become relevant when talking about non-polar molecules, but I can't figure out how they are connected to the boiling and freezing point of the matter. How do these London dispersion forces influence the boiling and freezing point?

Answer 1

In general, the larger the molecule, the larger the accessible surface area of the molecule and the more surface polarisable electron density. There are more atoms that can participate in dispersion interactions and the effect stacks up. To melt or boil a substance you need to overcome the intermolecular forces holding the molecules together and dispersion forces - whilst weak even with respect to hydrogen bonding - can add up to large interaction energies. One of the more interesting examples of strong dispersion interactions is the gecko's foot, which permits the reptile to easily stick to sheer surfaces due to the exceptional surface area of the footpad, which is covered in many many tiny hairlike protrusions.