What Makes Water Such a Good Solvent?
You may recall from Chapter 2 that water has a bent geometry with the two carbon-hydrogen bonds intersecting at an angel of about 105. These bonds are covalent, meaning that they involve the sharing of electrons between the oxygen atoms and the hydrogens. However, the sharing is not equal the electrons in an oxygen hydrogen bond are more strongly attracted to the oxygen than to the hydrogen. As a result, the atoms in a water molecule are not electrically neutral The oxygen has a small net negative charge (less than one unit), while the hydrogens each have small net positive charges. This is illustrated in Figure 4.1 from the text. Water is said to be a polar molecule on account of this unequal charge distribution, and it is this polarity that makes water such a good solvent. How Ionic Substances Dissolve in Water: Recall that an ionic substance such as the salt, sodium chloride (NaCl) is held together with ionic bonds, i. e., electrostatic attractive forces between oppositely charged i
