Why is the boiling point of water significantly greater than that of other group 6 (16) hydrides?

Water exhibits hydrogen bonding between neighbouring molecules, where other group 6 hydrides are held together by much weaker (ca. 10 x) Van Der Waal's forces of attraction. Waters hydrogen bondong ability arises from the presence of a highly electronegative oxygen atom in it's structure. Due to oxygen's propensity to attract negative charge, the shared electron between oxygen and hydrogen in each of the two bonds in water lies closer to the nucleus of oxygen than that of hydrogen. This results in a partially negatively charged oxygen atom and two partially positively charged hydrogen atoms. The partial charges can interact wih the opposite partial charge on a neighbouring molecul, forming a so called 'hydrogen bond.'

JS
Answered by Joe S. Chemistry tutor

6188 Views

See similar Chemistry A Level tutors

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Elements in the periodic table show a trend in atomic radius. State and explain the trend in atomic radius from Li to F.


What is Gibbs free energy? How is it useful?


What does the term isotope mean?


Why do I have to learn about electron shells.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning