Molecular Make-up of Water


Water is the main ingredient in life. Cells consists of 70%-95% water. Around 75% of the surface of earth is covered with water. It the only substance that naturally in all the 3 forms, ie. Solid, liquid and gaseous. Water has a number of unique properties due to its hydrogen bonding.

Molecular Make-up of Water:

A molecule is made of atoms of proton, neutron and electron. It is a stable object that can possess observation properties. The shape of a water molecule is tetrahedron. Oxygen has 6 valence electrons that can bond with the 2 hydrogen. That is why the chemical formula of water is H2O.
In water, every hydrogen nucleus is fixed to the oxygen atom located at the centre. This fixing is due to the electrons that are shared among them. This shared electron pair is commonly known as

covalent chemical bond.

In water molecule ie. H2O, only 6 electron of oxygen, are used. The rest 4 electrons get organized in 2 non-bonding pairs. The 4 electron pairs that surround the oxygen atom try to arrange themselves away from each other. This is to minimize the repulsion between the clouds carrying negative charge. This results in geometry where the angle between the pairs of electrons is

109.5 degrees

. It is in

H-O-H bond

angle formation.
But due to the 2 non-bonding pairs remaining close to oxygen atom, they release a more strong repulsion against the 2 bonding pairs. This pushes the 2 hydrogen atoms to come closer. This results in a arrangement in which the angle of H-O-H is

104.5 degrees.

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