Why is water considered to be electronegative?

Question

Madison Anderson · Accepted Answer

It's not. Molecules are never considered electronegative. Electronegativity is attributed to atoms, and atoms only. Polarity is attributed to molecules.

Water is polar because the electronegativity of oxygen (#~3.5#) is substantially greater than that of hydrogen (#~2.1#). Hence, the electrons within the molecular orbitals of water tend to be distributed more of the time towards oxygen than towards the hydrogens.

Thus, more negative charges are near oxygen and more positive charges are near the hydrogens.

Another way to say it is that the dipole moment vector is pointed through the #"O"-"H"# bonds in such a way that their vector projections add to give a net dipole moment vector that points through oxygen. i.e. The two #mu_"OH"# components add to give #mu_("H"_2"O")#:

Skylar Alexander · Answer

undefined Water is considered electronegative because oxygen, one of the elements in water molecules, has a higher electronegativity than hydrogen. This means that oxygen has a stronger attraction for electrons, leading to an uneven distribution of charge within the water molecule. Oxygen attracts the shared electrons more strongly, giving it a partial negative charge, while hydrogen has a partial positive charge. This polarity makes water molecules attract each other through hydrogen bonding, which contributes to various properties of water, such as its high surface tension, cohesion, and ability to dissolve many substances.