Asked by ruth

Which substance would have the highest melting point, based on electronegativity?

Responses

H2O
uppercase H subscript 2 end subscript uppercase O

H2Te
uppercase H subscript 2 end subscript uppercase T lowercase e

H2S
uppercase H subscript 2 end subscript uppercase S

H2Se
uppercase H subscript 2 end subscript uppercase S lowercase e

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
H2O

Reason: Oxygen is much more electronegative than S, Se or Te, so the O–H bonds are highly polar and water molecules form strong hydrogen bonds with each other. Those H‑bonds raise water’s melting point well above the hydrides of S, Se and Te, which lack significant H‑bonding and rely mainly on much weaker dispersion forces (which increase down the group but do not surpass water’s H‑bonding).