Question

Water has a much higher specific heat capacity than most liquids. Explain in terms of the attractive forces between water molecules.

Answer 1

Because of intermolecular forces, H2O is not a simple H2O molecule but a cluster much like (H2O)n where n represents a small whole number. The last time I read something on this n was something like 6 at room temperature but was 1 as steam at 100 C. So the molar mass of H2O is actually in the neighborhood of 4*17 to 6*17.