a. Physical state and smell
The first three members are colourless liquids and have pungent smell. The next six members are oily liquids with a faint unpleasant odour.
Still higher acids are colourless waxy solids.
Benzoic acids and its homologues are colourless solids.
b. Boiling points
They have higher boiling points than the corresponding alcohols of comparable molecular masses.
Carboxylic acids have higher boiling points due to the presence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Due to the hydrogen bonding, carboxylic acids exist as dimers.
c. Melting point
In the case of first ten carboxylic acids, the melting points of acids containing even number of carbon atoms is higher than the next lower and higher member containing odd number of carbon atoms.
The melting and boiling points of aromatic acids are usually higher than those of aliphatic acids of comparable molecular masses.
d. Solubility in water
The first four members of aliphatic carboxylic acids are very soluble in water. The solubility in water decreases gradually with rise in molecular mass. All are soluble in alcohol or ether.
Benzoic acid is sparingly soluble in cold water but is soluble in hot water, alcohol and ether.
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