Explain why water has a higher boiling point than hydrogen iodide.

Water has a greater boiling point than hydrogen iodide as water has hydrogen bonds, whereas iodine only has permenant dipole-dipole interactions. Hydrogen bonds are stronger than permenant dipole-dipole interactions as the hydrogen is attacthed to a highly electronegative atom, and thus creates a large enough dipole to form a hydrogen bond. In hydrogen iodide hydrogen is connected to iodine which is only electronegative to form a dipole that creates permenant dipole-dipole interactions.

As intermolecular forces are stronger in water than hydrogen iodide, more energy is needed to overcome these interactions, thus the boiling point of water is greater.

Answered by Matthew J. Chemistry tutor

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