Water is a tiny bent molecule with the molecular formula H2O, consisting of two light hydrogen

atoms attached to each 16-fold heavier oxygen atom. Each molecule is electrically neutral but polar,
with the center of positive and negative charges located in different places. Each hydrogen atom has
a nucleus consisting of a single positively-charged proton surrounded by a 'cloud' of a single
negatively-charged electron and the oxygen atom has a nucleus consisting of eight positively-
charged protons and eight uncharged neutrons surrounded by a 'cloud' of eight negatively-charged
electrons. On forming the molecule, the ten electrons pair up into five 'orbitals', one pair closely
associated with the oxygen atom, two pairs associated with the oxygen atom as 'outer' electrons
and two pairs forming each of the two identical O-H covalent bonds.

The eight outer electrons are often shown as the pairs of dots in where the pairs of
electrons between the O and H atoms represent the O-H covalent bonds, and the other two pairs of
electrons represent the so-called 'lone pairs'. These electron pairs form electron 'clouds' that are
spread out approximately tetrahedrally around the oxygen nucleus as they repel each other. This is
the reason for water's bent structure. The eight positive charges in the (electronegative) oxygen
nucleus attract all these electrons strongly relative to the single positive charges on each of the
hydrogen atoms. This leaves the hydrogen atoms partially denuded of electrons, and hence partially
positively charged, and the oxygen atom partially negatively charged, that is,

Due to the presence of these charges and the bent nature of the molecule, the center of the positive
charge (half way between the two hydrogen atoms) does not coincide with the center of the
negative charge (on the oxygen atom). In liquid water, this gives a molecular dipole moment from
the center of negative charge to the center of positive charge, equivalent to a unit negative charge
(that is, one electron) separated from a unit positive charge by 0.061 nm. The presence of this
dipole moment in all water molecules causes its polar nature.

Water is much smaller than almost all other molecules. As a result, both liquid and solid water (ice)
have high densities of molecules. One liter of water at room temperature (25 °C) weighs almost a
kilogram (997 g) and contains about 33 million million million million molecules.
The molecule is V-shaped. It is often shown

as or but is better represented

as or even giving a more accurate idea of its rather rotund

shape and also indicating the charge (pink showing negatively charged surface and green showing
positively charged surface).

In liquid water, the mean O-H length is about 0.097 nm, the mean H-O-H angle is about 106°, and
the mean negative charge on the oxygen atom is about 70% of that of an electron with each
hydrogen atom positively charged sharing the neutralizing charge. Individual water molecules will
have different values for these parameters dependent on their energy and surroundings. The
opposite charges on the oxygen and hydrogen atoms cause different water molecules to attract
each other. This attraction is particularly strong when the O-H bond from one water molecule points
directly at a nearby oxygen atom in another water molecule, that is when the three atoms O-H O
are in a straight line. This is called 'hydrogen-bonding' as the hydrogen atoms appear to hold on to
both O atoms. This attraction between neighboring water molecules, together with the high-density
of molecules due to their small size, produces a great cohesive effect within liquid water that is
responsible for water's liquid nature at ambient temperatures.

Heavy water (D2O) has similar, but not identical, properties to H2O. The deuterium atom (D) is a
stable isotope of hydrogen that has a neutron alongside the proton in its nucleus, almost doubling
its atomic mass.
What is in 'water'?
Normally purified liquid water consists of a mixture of molecules [1377] and ions, including H2O,
HDO (≈ 10-2 %), H3O+and OH- (≈ 10-6 %), H2O2 (≈ 10-7 %), CO2 (≈ 10-4 %), O2 (≈ 10-4 %) and
N2 (≈ 10-3 %). A 'standard' water (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water) has been proposed. The
Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW, now VSMOW2) is a purified salt-free water used as a
standard water material for determining the physical properties of water. It is made by mixing
purified oceanic waters. It contains 99.984 426 atom % 1H, 0.015 574 atom % 2H (D), 1.85 ˣ 10-
15 atom % 3H (T; equivalent to about one disintegration min-1 mol-1 water), 99.76206 atom % 16O,

0.037 90 atom % 17O and 0.200 04 atom % 18O [IAPWS]. Standard heavy water (D2O) has the
same oxygen isotopic composition but with 100% deuterium and molar mass 20.027508 g mol-
1 [IAPWS]. c It should be noted that, although water contains mostly H 16O, the concentrations of
2
other isotopologues may well be greater than the solutes of interest in solutions. a

'Pure liquid water', meaning consisting of just 1H216O molecules, only exists in computer simulations.
Even 'just H2O' consists of a mixture of 'ortho' and 'para' forms. Avoiding this complexity, 'water' is
normally taken to mean H2O molecules, without consideration over its magnetic state. H2O is also
known as 'light water' with D2O being heavy water (D2O density = 111% H2O density at 25 °C) and
T2O being super heavy water (T2O density = 122% H2O density at 25 °C). The properties of H2O,
D2O, and T2O are different. Even though the amount of deuterium in commonly-found water is low
(≈ 16 mM) the properties of such water are different to water containing protium (1H) only [2063].
The known isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen
are 1H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 12O, 13O, 14O, 15O, 16O, 17O, 18O, 19O, 20O, 21O, 22O, 23O, 24O, but
only 1H, 2H, 16O, 17O, 18O are stable, the rest being radioactive. Therefore, there are nine stable
isotopologues and (theoretically) 355 possible radioactive isotopologues. If the ortho-/para-
magnetic spin states of hydrogen and deuterium are taken into account, there are 15 different
stable forms of the water molecule that do exist in any sample of natural water.