One Bend, Six Consequences

You'll learnwhy water's bent shape makes it polar, and how that drives hydrogen bonding between molecules.

Water is two hydrogens and an oxygen, bent at 104.5° — and because oxygen pulls the shared electrons harder, one end goes slightly negative and the other slightly positive. That single structural fact is why water climbs trees, holds up a strider, resists the stove, and freezes into something that floats. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · BENT 104.5° · δ− ON O, δ+ ON H · HYDROGEN BOND = BETWEEN MOLECULES · v6

one bent molecule · the dashed bond between molecules · six payoffs

Before you start

What you're looking at

One stationary water molecule: one oxygen, two hydrogens, joined by covalent bonds drawn as solid grey sticks, bent at 104.5°.

The question

How does the bend turn a neutral molecule into a polar one that bonds to its neighbours?

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