Water has a rather high boiling point despite its low molecular mass because of the presence of?
Answer Details
Water has a rather high boiling point because of the presence of hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding is a special type of intermolecular force that occurs when a hydrogen atom is bonded to a highly electronegative atom such as nitrogen, oxygen, or fluorine.
In the case of water, the oxygen atom is highly electronegative and attracts electrons more strongly than the hydrogen atoms. This creates a partial negative charge on the oxygen atom and a partial positive charge on the hydrogen atoms. The partial positive charge on one water molecule can then be attracted to the partial negative charge on another water molecule, creating a hydrogen bond between them.
Hydrogen bonds are much stronger than the usual van der Waals forces between molecules, which is why water has a higher boiling point than expected for its molecular mass. The extra energy required to break the hydrogen bonds must be supplied to boil water, hence water has a relatively high boiling point.