Question

What effect does branching of an alkane chain have on its boiling point.

Answer 1

An alkane, also known as paraffin (a historical term with many meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon in organic chemistry. To put it another way, an alkane is made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure with single carbon–carbon bonds. ${C_n}{H_{2n + 2}}$ is the general chemical formula for alkanes. Where $n$ is an integer.

Complete answer:
Methanogenic bacteria contain methane, and some long-chain alkanes serve as pheromones in some animal species or as defensive waxes in plants and fungi. Despite this, most alkanes have no biological activity. They can be thought of as molecular trees on which biological molecules' more active/reactive functional groups can be hung.Petroleum (crude oil) and natural gas are the two primary commercial sources of alkanes.
As branching increases, the molecule's surface area decreases, resulting in a limited contact area. As a result, the Van der Waals force diminishes, allowing it to be resolved at a lower temperature. As a result, as branching increases, the boiling point of an alkane chain decreases.

Note:
Both the melting point and the boiling point are affected by surface area and branching. If an alkane's surface area decreases due to branching, the boiling point drops and the melting point rises, so we can assume that surface area is directly proportional to melting point.