Question

You have seen that the water molecule has a bent shape and therefore is a polar molecule. This accounts for many of water’s interesting properties. What if the water molecule was linear? How would this affect the properties of water, such as surface tension, heat of vaporization, and vapor pressure? how would life be different?

Short answer

The water molecule would no longer be polar because of which it will no longer be a universal solvent. There will be no hydrogen bonding as well. It would have a low melting point but high vapor pressure. Surface tension will reduce.

Step-by-step solution

Structure of water

In a water molecule, one O atom is linked to 2 H atoms and there are 2 lone pairs of electrons on the O atom. Since bonding electrons and lone pair of electrons repel each other, the molecule will have a bent shape or V-shape.

Properties of water

Since water is bent-shaped, it has uneven electron distribution because thewater molecule is polar. Due to its polar nature, it can dissolve a lot of polar substances.

Because water is polar,it can form hydrogen bonds.Hydrogen bonding is responsible for high surface tension and a dense liquid state instead of a solid.

Changes in properties of water with the changes in its shape

If water is linear, it would be non-polar. If the polarity is destroyed, it will no longer be able to dissolve polar substances. Instead, it would dissolve nonpolar, hydrophobic oil which will be hazardous to live beings.

Also, since it is no longer polar, hydrogen bonding will not exist. Due to this, ice will be denser than liquid and would sink instead of floating. This will lead to the freezing of the lake and the killing of aquatic organisms.

The surface tension will decrease because cohesive forces will be lost. The vapor pressure will increase because all the water would be in a gaseous state.