Nonmetals are not weakly attracted to one another. In fact, they have relatively strong intermolecular forces, especially the covalent bonds within their molecules.

However, they do have lower melting and boiling points compared to metals. Isso é porque:

* Covalent bonds: Nonmetals primarily form covalent bonds, which are weaker than the metallic bonds found in metals. This means less energy is required to break these bonds and change the state of matter.
* Intermolecular forces: Embora os não metais possam ter fortes ligações covalentes * dentro * de suas moléculas, as forças * entre * moléculas (forças intermoleculares) são geralmente mais fracas que a ligação metálica nos metais.

Therefore, nonmetals have lower melting and boiling points than metals.