Asked by ny

Water has a “bent” geometry. Which properties of water create this molecular shape?

Water’s oxygen has no lone electron pairs.

Water’s oxygen has lone electron pairs that repel each other.

Water is nonpolar.

Water is ionic.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Correct answer: Water’s oxygen has lone electron pairs that repel each other.

Explanation: Oxygen in H2O has 6 valence electrons, forms two O–H bonds and retains two lone pairs (VSEPR AX2E2). The lone pairs repel the bonding pairs, compressing the H–O–H angle to about 104.5° and producing a bent molecular shape. The other choices are incorrect: oxygen does have lone pairs, water is polar (not nonpolar), and water is a covalent (polar covalent) molecule, not ionic.