Water Properties

  • Extremely high mp and bp:

 

MW

m.p.

b.p.

Water

18

0°C

100°C

Methane

16

-183°C

-161°C

 

plot of comparative boiling points for Group IV-VII hydrogen compounds in Periods 1-4

 

 

 

  • High Heat capacity: 18 cal/°C mol vs. 8 cal/°C mol for methane

  • High viscosity

  • Solid form is less dense than the liquid form at the same temperature (ice floats on water - very rare)

  • High dielectric constant (78.5 vs. 1.9 for hexane; 'blocks electric fields')

  • High surface tension.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Structural diagram of water molecule showing bond angles and lengths

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Space-filling image of water molecule

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#-D image of H-bonding between space-filling images of water molecules

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Flattened image of the hydration of sodium ion

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Images of three cubic lattices

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diagram of ccp and hcp close packing

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3-D rendering of close packed spheres in cannonball stack

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animation of cannon-ball close packing

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© R A Paselk

Last modified 20 November 2008