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Re: Water - getting decidedly off-topic...
- To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
- Subject: Re: Water - getting decidedly off-topic...
- From: Paul Sears <psears at nrn1_NRCan.gc.ca>
- Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 13:27:35 -0500 (EST)
- In-reply-to: <200212010741.gB17fibY028254 at otter_actwin.com> from "Aquatic Plants Digest" at Dec 01, 2002 02:41:44 AM
> From: "S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>
> Subject: Re: Density of Water -- & the Density of Science
>
> For that matter, why aren't the Hs on an H2O molecule
> precisely 120 degrees apart?
One wouldn't expect 120 degrees. Simple molecular orbital theory
would predict the "tetrahedral" angle 109 degees and change, but the
elecron pairs that _aren't_ bonding O to H - the "lone pairs" are held
closer in and repel each other more strongly, pushing the OH bonds
closer together. The angle ends up at 104.5 degrees.
--
Paul Sears Ottawa, Canada