LemonSlice said:
KHlover said:
LemonSlice said:
KHlover said:
LemonSlice said:
KHlover said:
LemonSlice said:
I can't believe I got the chemical reaction one wrong. Is the breaking of hydrogen bonds not a chemical reaction? I'm confused. |
Boiling water doesn't break haydrogen bonds.
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? I'm pretty sure it does.
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Breaking the bonds of the water molecule would result in a fission of the water molecule
2 H-O-H (l) -> 2 H2↑ + O2↑
This is what you achieve with an electrolysis. Adding thermal energy to the water simply speeds the molecules up to the point where they have enough energy to overcome the dipole-dipole interaction keeping them in formation, thus being able to move freely. The water changed its aggregate phase from liquid to gaseous, the gaseous H2O emerging from the bottom of the pot is what causes the boils on the surface of the water.
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AKA hydrogen bonds.
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Like I said, my terminology...(blush...). Didn't make the connection from Hydrogen bridge bonds (...)...
Still, these bonds are not physical bonds between the water molecules. They are nothing more than an attraction between the molecules caused by the molecular structure of water, thus they are "overcome" and not "broken", the water molecules themselves stay intact, thus it.is.not.a.chemical.reaction.
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Aren't they still caused by the interaction between (slightly) positively and negatively charged atoms, thus a chemical bond?
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No, they are not. It is called "Dipole-Dipole Interaction" for a reason. And even if they were, they are completely irrelevant for this problem. A reaction is only called a chemical reaction if the molecular structure of at least one of the involved substances changed.
The "reaction equation" of heating water would be:
H2O (l) -> H2O (g)
As you can see the structure of the water molecule does not change at all, q.e.d
