Puspa Gautam

Prof. Kevin
Chemistry 1010
Dec. 12, 2017 eportfolio

WATER

Water is a chemical compound consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen. A water
molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom, and its overall structure is
bent. This is because the oxygen atom, in addition to forming bonds with the hydrogen atoms,
also carries two pairs of unshared electrons. All of the electron pairsshared and unshared
repel each other. Its chemical equation is H2 + O2 --> H2O.
The name water typically refers to the liquid state of the compound. The solid phase is known

as ice and gas phase is called steam.

Also Known As: Dihydrogen monoxide, H2O

I want to talk about some important features of water. I will consider how the interactions

between water molecules affect the physical properties of water. I will use the knowledge of

molecular dipoles to predict physical properties of substances based on the structure. I also bring

together the concepts of energy and phases changes like process of melting and vaporization.

The phase changes that water undergoes transitions between gas liquid and solid depending on

whether it absorbs or releases heat energy, the gas phase which commonly call water vapor

exhibits the standard characteristic of gas namely water vapor has a low density is highly

compressible and expands to completely fill the container that it resides in as liquid water
molecules which are close contact unlike molecules in the gas phase and liquid water has high

density relative to water vapor also given that theres very little unoccupied volume in the liquid

state. Liquid water is only slightly compressible and while water molecules in the liquid state are

free to move about in a fluid manner strong interaction between water molecules. Liquid doesnt

completely fill a container but rather takes on the shape of the container with in the limits of the

quantity of water present. Solid water or ice is a rigid state of matter in which molecules are

organized and packed closely together. In fact, the particles of the water are packed together in

such a manner that ice is less dense than liquid water. For this reason, water expands upon

freezing.

Structure and bonding of the water molecule

The most stable arrangement is the one that puts them farthest apart from each other: a
tetrahedron, with the OH bonds forming two out of the four legs. The lone pairs are slightly
more repulsive than the bond electrons, so the angle between OH bonds is slightly less than the
109 of a perfect tetrahedron, around 104.5. Because oxygen is more electronegativeelectron-
greedythan hydrogen, the O atom hogs electrons and keeps them away from the H atoms. This
gives the oxygen end of the water molecule a partial negative charge, while the hydrogen end has
a partial positive charge. Water is classified as a polar molecule because of its polar covalent
bonds and its bent shape.
Pure water, H2O, has a unique molecular structure. The O-H bond lengths are 0.096 nm and the

H-O-H angle = 104.5

The enthalpy of formation for liquid water, H2O(l), is -285.830 and that of water vapor is -

241.826 kJ/mol. The difference is the heat of vaporization at 298 K. Liquid water and vapor

entropies (S) are 69.95 and 188.835 kJ K-1 mol-1 respectively.

Thanks to their polarity, water molecules happily attract each other. The plus end of onea

hydrogen atomassociates with the minus end of anotheran oxygen atom.

These attractions are an example of hydrogen bonds, weak interactions that form between a

hydrogen with a partial positive charge and a more electronegative atom, such as oxygen. The

hydrogen atoms involved in hydrogen bonding must be attached to electronegative atoms, such

as O, N, or F.
Sources

Introductory Chemistry Zumdahl/DeCoste

http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/applychem/waterchem.html

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/water-acids-and-bases/hydrogen-bonding-in-

water/a/hydrogen-bonding-in-water