Home / Academics / Division of Math & Science / Chemistry / The Structure of Water

The Structure of Water

• Water is composed of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms.
• According to its Lewis structure, water has two lone pars of electrons on the oxygen.
• According to valence-bond theory, each hydrogen is connected to the oxygen through a single sigma bond.
• According to VSPER Theory, water has sp³ hybridization (or tetrahedralelectron domain geometry) with a bond angle of 104.5^o and a bent or V-shape.
• Water is a neutral molecule but the shared electrons are not shared equally. The oxygen atom has a partial negative charge associated with it and the hydrogen atoms have a partial positive charge associated with them.
• The electrongativity difference between the oxygen atom and each hydrogen is quite large yielding polar bonds.
• Water is a polar molecule and a large dipole moment.
• The strongest intermolecular force between molecules of water is hydrogen-bonding.