Hydrogen bonds are about 10% the strength of covalent bonds, but when there are a lot of them, their effect can be significant.Hydrogen bonds can break and reform more easily than covalent bonds.Ice is less dense than water as when water freezes the water molecules are held in place by hydrogen bonds to form an open lattice.The molecules are held further apart than in water so ice is less dense than water and floats on the surface.
The Importance of Hydrogen Bonding
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Specification: AQA Chemistry (7404), AS-level, 3.1.3.7 Forces between molecules. Topic: Bonding.
Key terms in this lesson
- Covalent bond
- A strong electrostatic attraction between a shared pair of electrons and the nuclei of the bonded atoms.
- Hydrogen bond
- A strong permanent dipole-dipole interaction between a hydrogen atom bonded to N, O or F and a lone pair on an electronegative N, O or F atom of another molecule.
More in Bonding
- Dipole-Dipole Forces
- Van der Waals forces
- Hydrogen Bonding
- Boiling Point of Hydrides
- Electron Pair Repulsion Theory
- Two Pairs of Electrons
- Three Pairs of Electrons
- Four Pairs of Electrons
All 30 lessons in Bonding · All AQA AS-level Chemistry topics