waters physical properties

• anomalous properties of water:

  • relatively high melting and boiling point for a molecule with so few electrons
  • ice is less dense than water
• hydrogen bonds in water are very strong increasing the intermolecular forces of water
• HF's hydrogen bonding may be stronger but it only forms one bond whereas H2O forms two hydrogen bonds making the boiling point increased
• molecules of ice are arranged in rings of six , held together by hydrogen bonds, this creates lots of space inside the rings

  when the ice melts this structure goes away so the distance between molecules decrease, therefore density increases
• alcohols that have an OH group can bond with water
• non-polar molecules don't dissolve in water, as the attraction between the alkanes and water molecules is not strong enough to disrupt the hydrogen bonds in the water molecules