5.25. Assertion: Liquids and solids are hard to compress.

Reason: Magnitude of the repulsion rises very rapidly as the distance separating the molecules decreases.

<p><strong>5.25.&nbsp; (a) </strong>Other than attractive forces, molecules also exert repulsive forces on one another. When two molecules are brought into close contact with each other, the repulsion between the electron clouds and that between the nuclei of two molecules comes into play. Magnitude of the repulsion rises very rapidly as the distance separating the molecules decreases. This is the reason that liquids and solids are hard to compress. In these states molecules are already in close contact; therefore, they resist further compression; as that would result in the increase of repulsive interactions.</p>

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