General Chemistry 1

2nd Semester
Quarter 3
Properties of Water
(Molecular Structure and
Intermolecular Forces)
Lesson 3
MOST ESSENTIAL
LEARNING COMPETENCY
• explain the properties of water with its molecular structure and
intermolecular forces.
STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES
OF WATER
• The formation of hydrogen bonds among water molecules causes
water to possess unique properties.
• These different properties are significant for life on earth.
• The following are unique properties of water as a consequence of the
hydrogen bond.
1. It has high boiling point
and exists as liquid at
room temperature.
1. It has high boiling point and exists
as liquid at room temperature.
• Water has a high boiling point because its
molecules are bound together by hydrogen
bonding, which is a very strong
intermolecular force.
• It takes more kinetic energy, or a higher
temperature, to break the hydrogen
bonding between water molecules, thus
allowing them to escape as steam.
Figure 1. Molecular structure of water that shows
the formation of hydrogen bond.
1. It has high boiling point and exists
as liquid at room temperature.
• Boiling of a liquid involves increasing the kinetic energy of the
molecules by increasing the temperature of the liquid.
• As the molecules gain more kinetic energy, they are able to escape the
intermolecular forces that hold them together as a liquid and become
gaseous molecules.
• The amount of kinetic energy required to break the intermolecular
forces increases with the strength of the intermolecular force involved.
• Stronger intermolecular forces require more energy to disrupt, thus
resulting in a higher boiling point for that substance.
1. It has high boiling point and exists
as liquid at room temperature.
• Water molecules are held together by hydrogen bonding, which is a
very strong intermolecular force.
• Each water molecule is polar because the oxygen has a partial negative
charge, while the hydrogen atoms have a partial positive charge.
• The partial negative charge of one water molecule exerts a strong
attractive force over the partial positive charge of a different water
molecule.
1. It has high boiling point and exists
as liquid at room temperature.
• In order to boil water, the molecules have to be supplied with a
sufficient amount of kinetic energy to escape the strong hydrogen
bonding between molecules.
• The temperature must be increased in order to increase the kinetic
energy of the molecules.
• The presence of the hydrogen bonds thus elevates the boiling point of
water.
Guide Questions
• How does water molecules • How does the kinetic energy
disrupt/break the hydrogen of the molecules increase?
bond?
2. It has high specific heat
which requires large amounts
of heat before it vaporizes.
This explains why the earth has minimal temperature variations that can affect
the climate.
2. It has high specific heat which requires
large amounts of heat before it vaporizes.

• Water has a high heat capacity because a lot of heat energy is

required to break the hydrogen bonds found in a molecule of
water.
• Because the majority of heat energy is concentrated on
breaking the hydrogen bonds, the water molecule itself heats
up after the bonds are broken.
2. It has high specific heat which requires
large amounts of heat before it vaporizes.

• Once the hydrogen bonds in a water molecule are heated up

enough to break, the additional heat energy can then be
imparted to the water molecule itself.
• This additional heat energy then vibrates the water molecule,
allowing it to bump into nearby water molecules to distribute
the heat energy imparted by a heat source.
2. It has high specific heat which requires
large amounts of heat before it vaporizes.

• However, the process of heat energy distribution is slow, as

the vibrating water molecule must impart sufficient heat
energy to break the hydrogen bonds in the surrounding water
molecules.
• Once the heat source is removed from the water it cools
down, but very slowly.
2. It has high specific heat which requires
large amounts of heat before it vaporizes.

• Just as significant energy is required to break the hydrogen

bonds in a water molecule, significant energy is likewise
required to re-form them.
• Only when the water molecule achieves a low enough
temperature to allow the hydrogen bonds to re-form does the
water molecule release the heat energy.
• This process of warming and cooling explains why water
slowly heats up and cools down.
Guide Questions
• How does heat energy is • How does the bond
distributed in the water between the water
molecules? molecules can be
renewed?
3. It is the only substance
that contracts when cooled
because of its more open
structure in the solid form.
The density of ice is less than liquid water, hence, it floats on water.
3. It is the only substance that contracts
when cooled because of its more open
structure in the solid form.
• When a liquid is cooled, more and more molecules are
brought closer together and need to be accommodated in a
smaller area.
• This gives most solids more density than their liquid form.
3. It is the only substance that contracts
when cooled because of its more open
structure in the solid form.
• However, in the case of water, the negatively-charged oxygen
atoms repel each other (when brought together in a smaller
space) to prevent the ice from becoming any denser.
• This is the reason that density actually decreases as
temperature continues to fall below 4 degrees Celsius.
Guide Questions

• What happened to the • Why does the ice

water molecules when it float in water?
is cooled?
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
This causes a large drop in temperature during evaporation.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• Due to hydrogen bonding, water molecules cling to each
other (cohesion) and remain in liquid state under
temperatures that are favorable to plants and other living
organisms.
• Liquid water has a boiling temperature of 100°C and freezes
at 0°C at 1 atmospheric pressure.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• When it boils, the hydrogen bonds are broken and the
molecules separate from each other.
• But without these hydrogen bonds, water will boil at
temperature of -80°C and freeze at -100°C (Mader
1993).
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• The hydrogen-bonding property of water is therefore vital to
life, particularly to plants which generally survive within a
temperature range from 0 to 50°C.
• Otherwise, plants will be deprived of liquid water because the
water inside will change to gas even at low temperatures.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• In the process of changing 1 gram of liquid water at 0°C to
solid form or ice at 0°C, 80 calories of heat energy is lost.
• This is the latent heat of fusion of water.
• The heat that is given off when water freezes keeps the
atmospheric temperature higher.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• Likewise, 1 gram of ice at 0°C uses 80 calories of heat
energy to convert to 1 gram of liquid water at 0°C.
• This is water’s latent heat of melting.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• But a very high quantity of heat energy is needed for
evaporation. This amount of heat is called heat of
vaporization.
• When molecules of water absorb heat energy, they move fast
in water.
• Eventually, the speed of movement of some molecules
becomes so fast allowing them to overcome the
intermolecular attraction, detach from the multimolecular
water, form bubbles, and leave the water surface in gas state.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• Water has latent heat of vaporization of 540 calories per
gram, the amount of heat energy that is necessary to convert
1 g of liquid water at 100°C to steam at 100°C, or 40.71
kJ/mol or about 2,260 kJ/kg water.
• The heat energy is used in breaking the hydrogen bonds
which hold the molecules of liquid water together.
4. It has high heat of
vaporization.
• This property of water helps to cool down the body of living
organisms.
• This is called evaporative cooling.
• In humans, body heat is used to vaporize sweat; in plants, heat is
likewise used in converting liquid water to water vapor which then
escapes into the atmosphere.
• This natural process of vaporizing plant water is called transpiration (it
is the evaporation of water from plants).
Guide Questions

• How does the body of the living organisms

like human and plants cool down?
5. It has a high surface
tension.
This allows water to move from the roots to the top of a very tall tree.
5. It has a high surface tension.
• Water molecules want to cling to each other.
• At the surface, however, there are fewer water molecules
to cling to since there is air above (thus, no water
molecules).
• This results in a stronger bond between those molecules
that actually do come in contact with one another, and a
layer of strongly bonded water (see diagram).
5. It has a high surface tension.
• This surface layer (held together by surface tension) creates a
considerable barrier between the atmosphere and the water.
• In fact, other than mercury, water has the greatest surface
tension of any liquid. (Source: Lakes of Missouri)
5. It has a high surface tension.
• Surface tension in water owes to the fact that
water molecules attract one another, as each
molecule forms a bond with the ones in its
vicinity.
• At the surface, though, the outmost layer of
molecules, has fewer molecules to cling to,
therefore compensates by establishing stronger
bonds with its neighbours, this leading to the
formation of the surface tension.
5. It has a high surface tension.
• Within a body of a liquid, a molecule will not experience a net force
because the forces by the neighboring molecules all cancel out
(diagram).
• However, for a molecule on the surface of the liquid, there will be a
net inward force since there will be no attractive force acting from
above.
• This inward net force causes the molecules on the surface to contract
and to resist being stretched or broken.
• Thus the surface is under tension, which is probably where the name
"surface tension" came from. (Source: Woodrow Wilson Foundation)
5. It has a high surface tension.
• Due to the surface tension, small objects will "float" on the
surface of a fluid, as long as the object cannot break through and
separate the top layer of water molecules.
• When an object is on the surface of the fluid, the surface under
tension will behave like an elastic membrane.
Guide Questions
• How does the barrier • Why does small abject
from the atmosphere and floats above the surface
water formed? of the fluid?