Why is water unusual?

1 Answer
anor277
Oct 28, 2016

For such a small molecule, water has an exceptionally high boiling point, and this may be traced to the polarity of the #O-H# bond.

Explanation:

If you compare the boiling points of other small molecules, i.e. #NH_3#, #CH_4#, #H_2S#, to that of water, it is very clear that the #100# #""^@C# normal boiling point is exceptionally high. Because the oxygen hydrogen bond is polar, i.e. #""^(delta+)H-stackrel(delta-)O-H^(delta+)#water molecules engage in extensive intermolecular hydrogen bonding, and this substantially elevates the boiling point.

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