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3.1: Water Structure

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    294280
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    Water's Physical Properties

    Water is a structured liquid. Its unique physical properties stem from its hydrogen bond network.

    clipboard_e1c31c9d624d28559cad9dbbaa0268d4c.png

    • On average, each molecule can donate two hydrogen bonds and accept two hydrogen bonds.
    • Strong hydrogen bond (HB) interactions give preferential directionality along tetrahedral orientation.
    • Large variation in HB distances and angles.

    sc 9.jpg

    • Structural correlations last about 1–2 solvent shells, or <1 nm.

    sc 10.jpg


    This page titled 3.1: Water Structure is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Andrei Tokmakoff via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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