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  • Why Hydrogen Bonds Form Between Water Molecules

Why Hydrogen Bonds Form Between Water Molecules

For water, its molecular structure is hydrogen dioxone, which is V-shaped. Hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms are connected by covalent bonds, but the electronegativity of oxygen is stronger than that of hydrogen, so that the electron cloud of hydrogen-oxygen covalent bonds is biased towards the oxygen atoms, so that the hydrogen atoms are slightly positively charged and the oxygen atoms are slightly negatively charged.

When water molecules are close to each other, the slightly positively charged hydrogen atoms in a water molecule will attract each other with the slightly negatively charged oxygen atoms in adjacent water molecules due to electrostatic attractive forces. Although this attraction is weaker than the covalent bond, it is enough to form a special force between water molecules, that is, hydrogen bonds.

The formation of hydrogen bonds originates from the difference of hydrogen-oxygen electronegativity in water molecules, resulting in the polarity of molecules, which in turn promotes the mutual attraction of heterosexual charges between adjacent water molecules. This is the fundamental reason for the formation of hydrogen bonds between water molecules.