28 Apr '07 11:54>
So you have all seen the mickey mouse image of the water molecule, nice fat circle for the Oxygen, two smaller ones at the mickey mouse points. All well and good. It's that magic 105 degree angle between the two H's that has me puzzled. For instance for a quick totally differant for sure analogy, you have a pith ball with a positive charge on the end of a glass rod and two smaller ones with the same charge with threads to hold them near the bigger one. Now like charges repel of course so if you have the two little ones on threads hooked to another rod and you try getting them close to the larger pith ball, the small ones flop around at any odd angle and there is no preferred direction of motion or resting point, of course there is no spinning moment with static charges either, but the point is there is no preferred spot for them to come to rest except to be as far apart from one another as the system will allow. Not so with the H's.
You get two H's and one O together at the right temperature and BOING, they pop together right at the 105 degree point every time.
So what is it exactly about the H's that they decide to be at this apparently minimum energy point that happens to give water its vital functions in biology. With the two off center like they are, the molecule aquires a differance of charge on one side vs the other. It would only be neutral if the H's ended up 180 degrees apart, that would make it as close to zero net charge as you could get but with them at 105, the whole thing is off center and you get pluses on one side and minuses on the other so the pure water molecule can rip things apart which is why DI (De-ionized water, like totally nothing but H20's and no impurities) will corrode stainless steel fittings and you have to use stuff like teflon instead. But what is it about the H and the O's that mixed together ends up at that 105 degree angle?
You get two H's and one O together at the right temperature and BOING, they pop together right at the 105 degree point every time.
So what is it exactly about the H's that they decide to be at this apparently minimum energy point that happens to give water its vital functions in biology. With the two off center like they are, the molecule aquires a differance of charge on one side vs the other. It would only be neutral if the H's ended up 180 degrees apart, that would make it as close to zero net charge as you could get but with them at 105, the whole thing is off center and you get pluses on one side and minuses on the other so the pure water molecule can rip things apart which is why DI (De-ionized water, like totally nothing but H20's and no impurities) will corrode stainless steel fittings and you have to use stuff like teflon instead. But what is it about the H and the O's that mixed together ends up at that 105 degree angle?