Quote (dcjsp @ Thu, Aug 13 2009, 03:10am)
so, back in school, trying to remmember things..
now this ones bugging me.
What makes the electrons that are shared in the covalent bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen in H2O favor the Oxygen side more than the Hydrogen side?
Also, what makes hydrogen bonding so special? Why do they give everything they bond to that slightly polar nature? What makes hydrogen bonding different than other bonds which create polar molecules?
It has to do with the electronegativity of the atoms, namely Oxygen is more electronegative than Hydrogen, thus when they bond the difference in electronegativity between Oxygen and Hydrogen creates a very Polar bond.
Polarity is a property of molecules where one end of the molecule is partially charged positively or negatively. The Water molecule is a prime example of a molecule that has very strong polar charges since, Hydrogen contributes small positive chargeto cancel the very powerful electromagnetic properties of Oxygen.
Hydrogen bonding is very special because it is a covalent bond where Hydrogen contributes a very weak positive charge, yet the bonding is not strong enough to be Ionic. The bonding between hydrogen and pretty much all other non-metals is interesting because once again hydrogen contributes a very weak positive charge which creates covalent bonds between Hydrogen and highly electronegative non-metals such as Flourine, Oxygen and Nitrogen.
Hydrogen bonding is indeed interesting because some of the products are very polar, and are usually acids or bases. Hydrogen bonding is fascinating because some of the products of hydrogen bonding are organic molecules, inorganic molecules etc.
edit: Yes! Your edit is leading you to the right track, I hope what I've typed isn't confusing you.
Think of hydrogen as having a very weak electronegative force.
This post was edited by Jazz_Thing on Aug 12 2009 09:22pm