Water molecules form what kind of bonds

The more covalent bonds between two atoms, the stronger their connection. Thus, triple bonds are the strongest. The strength of different levels of covalent bonding is one of the main reasons living organisms have a difficult time in acquiring nitrogen for use in constructing their molecules, even though molecular nitrogen, N 2 , is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere.

Molecular nitrogen consists of two nitrogen atoms triple bonded to each other and, as with all molecules, the sharing of these three pairs of electrons between the two nitrogen atoms allows for the filling of their outer electron shells, making the molecule more stable than the individual nitrogen atoms.

This strong triple bond makes it difficult for living systems to break apart this nitrogen in order to use it as constituents of proteins and DNA. The formation of water molecules provides an example of covalent bonding.

The hydrogen and oxygen atoms that combine to form water molecules are bound together by covalent bonds. The electron from the hydrogen splits its time between the incomplete outer shell of the hydrogen atoms and the incomplete outer shell of the oxygen atoms.

To completely fill the outer shell of oxygen, which has six electrons in its outer shell but which would be more stable with eight, two electrons one from each hydrogen atom are needed: hence the well-known formula H 2 O. The electrons are shared between the two elements to fill the outer shell of each, making both elements more stable. Individual H 2 O molecules are V-shaped, consisting of two hydrogen atoms depicted in white attached to the sides of a single oxygen atom depicted in red.

Neighboring H 2 O molecules interact transiently by way of hydrogen bonds depicted as blue and white ovals. Search form Search. Join The Community Request new password. Main menu About this Site Table of Contents. Hydrogen Bonds Make Water Sticky. Water has an amazing ability to adhere stick to itself and to other substances. Hydrogen Bonds. Hydrogen bonds form when hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to nitrogen N , oxygen O , or fluorine F in the form of covalent compounds such as ammonia NH 3 , water H 2 O and hydrogen fluoride gas HF.

In these molecules, the hydrogen atoms do not pull as strongly on the shared electrons as the N, O, or F atoms. Therefore, the molecules are polar; the hydrogen atoms become positively charged and are able to form hydrogen bonds to negative ions or negatively charged parts of other molecules such as the N, O, and F atoms that become negatively charged in these compounds.

Hydrogen bonds are not true bonds like covalent bonds or ionic bonds. Hydrogen bonds are attractions of electrostatic force caused by the difference in charge between slightly positive hydrogen ions and other, slightly negative ions. These attractions are much weaker than true ionic or covalent bonds, but they are strong enough to result in some interesting properties. In the case of water, hydrogen bonds form between neighboring hydrogen and oxygen atoms of adjacent water molecules.

The attraction between individual water molecules creates a bond known as a hydrogen bond. See Fig. A molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms. Both of these atoms can form a hydrogen bond with oxygen atoms of different water molecules. Every water molecule can be hydrogen bonded with up to three other water molecules See Fig.

However, because hydrogen bonds are weaker than covalent bonds, in liquid water they form, break, and reform easily. This will show you how many different kinds of molecule can be built up from the same set of atoms; in short, from the chemists' Lego set! Start by looking at the simplest atom. You have already seen that this is hydrogen and that it has one proton and one electron.

Hydrogen likes to form just one bond with another atom. Visualising the bonding between atoms can be very difficult - unless, once again, a model is used. This time sketches of the different atoms somewhat similar to those used in the protein molecule in Figure 10 will be used, except that instead of straight lines hooks will be used.

Thus, you might represent hydrogen as a sphere with one hook since it has one bond, as shown in Figure When linking atoms together to make molecules, the 'golden rule' is that no atom must ever have any spare hooks. A hydrogen atom all by itself has got a spare hook and that is not allowed.

What is the simplest molecule that hydrogen atoms alone can form? Use representations of the hydrogen atom, such as that in Figure 14, to sketch the molecule.

Chemists usually draw the links between the different atoms that form molecules in the form of straight lines. This is shown for hydrogen in Figure 15 b. By comparing a and b , you can see that 'two linked hooks' equals 'one covalent bond'.

Now apply the model-building idea to a molecule of water. Oxygen has two hooks, as shown in Figure Sketch a representation of the water molecule, but this time leave out the 'joined hooks' stage and write down the straight lines of the covalent bonds. Your answer should look similar to that shown in Figure 8 a. Now consider something slightly more complicated than a hydrogen molecule or water molecule. Methane, which is used in domestic heating and cooking, is a covalent compound that has been mentioned several times before.

A molecule of methane contains only carbon and hydrogen. In fact, the molecule contains just one atom of carbon. Carbon atoms have four hooks as shown in Figure Use the model atoms of hydrogen Figure 14 and carbon Figure 17 to obtain a representation of the methane molecule. How many hydrogen atoms can be attached to the one carbon atom?

Your model should look similar to Figure 18 a. Each of the four carbon hooks attaches to a hydrogen hook to produce a methane molecule in which four hydrogen atoms form bonds to one carbon atom. Figure 18 b shows the same molecule using bonds; as before, two joined hooks equals one covalent bond.

Figure 18 c illustrates a ball-and-stick model of methane. Note that methane isn't a flat molecule - it is described as tetrahedral in shape, as shown in the ball-and-stick model Figure 18 c. The four hydrogen atoms form the four corners of a tetrahedron with the carbon atom at the centre.

However, this is difficult to draw, hence chemists often don't accurately depict the three-dimensional shapes of molecules in written representations.

Try another example: carbon dioxide. This is the molecule produced when carbon in coal, wood or oil is burned and when humans or animals breathe out. The name of a compound sometimes gives useful information. In this instance, the 'di' in front of the oxide of dioxide tells you that the molecule has two oxygen atoms. The carbon dioxide molecule demonstrates another feature of bonding between atoms. How many bonds does carbon form? Look back at Figure 17 if necessary.