The hydrogen bond between two water molecules arises because water is what?

1 Answer
anor277
Aug 28, 2016

Because the water molecule is polar, i.e. electron density is unequally shared within the molecule.

Explanation:

The water molecule is polar: i.e. #""^(delta+)H-O^(delta-)-H^(delta+)# is a reasonable representation of this polarity, this charge separation.

Hydrogen bonding arises because of this polarity; i.e. alignment of the individual #O-H# dipoles. This acts as an extra intermolecular interaction. Such hydrogen bonding also occurs where hydrogen is bound to other strongly electronegative elements, i.e. #H-F#, and #NH_3# also exhibit some degree of polarity, and intermolecular hydrogen bonding occurs.

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