How do the atoms in a water molecule stick together?

Hydrogen Bonding. When water molecules align with each other, a weak bond is established between the negatively charged oxygen atom of one water molecule and the positively charged hydrogen atoms of a neighboring water molecule.

@askmenow

3 comments

Hi
Good Humour
This is wrong. Atoms in a water molecule remain attached to each other because of bonds that are primarily covalent but have some ionic character. This ionic character is what results in a partial positive charge on the H atoms which, combined with the partial negative charge on the oxygen atom, give rise to the weak hydrogen bonds that this message is talking about. This bond is responsible for tha anomalous expansion of water below 4° C and a host of other phenomena, but that is not how the atoms of the molecules stick to each other.
Sandeepan Bose
The question asks how atoms of hydrogen and oxygen in water stick together and the answer is by covalent bonds.
It is a different matter that the whole water molecule acts like a dipole. The molecule exhibits ionic character due to difference in the atomic numbers of the two elements. It is negative on the oxygen side and positive on the hydrogwn side.