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Chemistry

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Hydrogen bonding
Hello fellow water molecules, I will explain scientifically what happened to us at the
molecular level when we left the hot water heater. But first, let me clear some concepts: there
exists a special type of dipole-dipole attraction between us molecules. It is called hydrogen
bonding, and it is the result of the attractive force between a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to
an atom that is electronegative, such as N, F, or as in our case: O.
When we were together in the hot water heater, there was a hydrogen bonding between us,
because we were close together and our hydrogen atoms are attracted to our very electronegative
oxygen atom. The hydrogen atom is partially positive, and the oxygen atom has two lone pair
sets of electrons. This makes for a very polar bond.
When we were violently expelled from the hot water heater through the nozzle of the
showerhead, the physical force applied to us by the showerhead was greater than the hydrogen
bonds. It was enough to break the bond. Additionally, many of us were in the gas state because
of the thermal energy that we acquired from the heater, remember?
This led to some of us H
2
O molecules being dispersed and floating in the bathroom air. But how
did we encounter each other again on the surface of the mirror? It is simpler than you what you
might expect: the bathroom mirror is a (relatively) cold surface. It has a lower temperature than
we had when we were steam. Thus when we touched the surface of the mirror, some of our
thermal energy got transferred to it to maintain thermal balance. It is then that we lost enough
thermal energy to change states from gas to liquid. When we met again on the bathroom mirror,
we were able to form hydrogen bonds again since we were closer together. The partially positive
hydrogen atom of one of us and the oxygen atom of its neighbor are then attracted to each other.
This is the story of our separation and our happy reunion (due to hydrogen bonding) in the
shower.

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Hydrogen bonding Hello fellow water molecules, I will explain scientifically what happened to us at the molecular level when we left the hot water heater. But first, let me clear some concepts: there exists a special type of dipole-dipole attraction between us – molecules. It is called hydrogen bo ...
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