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Chemistry vocabulary · Chemical Bonding and Structure

Hydrogen bond

Meaning in chemistry, with examples

nounCommon term

In chemistry, hydrogen bond means: A fairly strong attraction between a hydrogen atom bonded to N, O or F and a lone pair on a nearby N, O or F atom. It explains why water has such a high boiling point for its size.

In Turkish: hidrojen bağı

How it is used

Used in physical, organic and biochemistry. It is an intermolecular force, not a true covalent bond. Molecules form or break hydrogen bonds, and the shapes of DNA and proteins depend on hydrogen bonding.

Example sentences

  1. Ethanol mixes with water because it can form hydrogen bonds with it.

  2. Hydrogen bonding between water molecules gives ice its open structure.

Common collocations

  • form hydrogen bonds
  • hydrogen bonding
  • hydrogen bond donor
  • hydrogen bond acceptor
  • intermolecular forcesAttractions between separate molecules, such as hydrogen bonds, dipole–dipole forces and London dispersion forces. They are much weaker than the bonds inside molecules.
  • polarDescribes a bond or molecule in which electrons are shared unevenly, so that one end is slightly negative and the other slightly positive. Water is a typical example.
  • electronegativityA measure of how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons toward itself in a bond. Fluorine has the highest value, about 4.0 on the Pauling scale.
  • covalent bondA chemical bond in which two atoms share one or more pairs of electrons. It usually forms between nonmetal atoms, as in H₂, H₂O and CH₄.

More terms: Chemical Bonding and Structure

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