Could you explain why water has a high latent heat of vapourisation?

A water molecule is polar. Due to the uneven sharing of electrons in the hydrogen-oxygen covalent bond, the oxygen molecule is slightly negatively charged and the hydrogen atoms are slightly positively charged. Due to this, intermolecular forces exist between water molecules, named hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonds require more energy to break than regular vander waals forces, therefore when heating a sample of water up, each hydrogen bond must be broken to vaporise the sample, which requires more energy, resulting in a higher heat of vaporisation, compared to other molecules of similar molecular mass.

SJ
Answered by Steffan J. Chemistry tutor

4645 Views

See similar Chemistry A Level tutors

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Order the following in terms of boiling point and explain your reasoning: Ethanol, Ethane, Propane


Explain: 1. Why butanoic acid has a higher boiling point than butan1-ol? 2. Why carboxylic acids of short chain length are more soluble in water than those with longer carbon chain length?


Why is methylamine a stronger base than phenylamine?


What is an optical isomer?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning