Hydrogen Bonding Video

If you teach biology, you probably get to hydrogen bonding pretty early in the term. Here's an inspirational video for you:

hat tip: Bora

Hydrogen bonding explains everything!!!!

Why does water hold so much heat? Why does ice float? How does a water bug not sink? Why does a dog smell everyone's butt?

More like this

I make an effort to say nice things about pop-science books that I read, whether for book research or blog reviews. Every now and then, though, I hit a book that has enough problems that I have a hard time taking anything positive from it. I got David Bodanis's E=mc2: A Biography of the World's…
The participants in the conversation recounted here were not under oath during the conversation, and there exists no official transcript of the conversation. Dr. Free-Ride's better half: When we were filling water bottles for soccer practice today, your child had an interesting theory about what…
The latest release by the funky electronic group the Chemical Brothers is a song and video titled "The Salmon Dance". Just one (minor) glitch--the fish in the tank is not a salmon (thanks for the tip, CW). Have a look. I don't mean to be fussy. The song is catchy and the video enjoyable. The…
Just as the safety of the food supply is coming under increased scrutiny we have the Castleberry Foods botulism recall, now involving a variety of brands of Hot Dog Chili Sauce and dog foods. Both have something in common you wouldn't necessarily think of at first (unless you knew about botulism).…

Eh, I guess it was a good explanation for biologists.

The part that really annoyed me was the hydrogen bonding between two waters, since you will not form two hydrogen-bonds between the same two molecules of water (as opposed to acetic acid, which was a much better picture).

Also, they didn't talk about my favorite use for hydrogen bonding: bed-head. When you lay on your hair funny at night, it creates all sorts of hydrogen bonds on the strand of hair that kink your hair. Wetting your hair in the shower causes water to break those hydrogen bonds (by forming new ones with the water). That's clearly more important than water freezing or boiling.

"hydrogenbondingdidit"? Isn't that a hydrogenbonding-of-the-gaps argument? Why don't we just say goddidit - it's easier to spell.

By MadScientist (not verified) on 03 Sep 2010 #permalink

A real easy way to show hydrogen bonding is by demonstrating surface tension with water. See how many drops of water can be placed ontop of a quarter before the water spills over the sides. Then do the same thing counting how many drops of rubbing alcohol can be placed ontop of the quarter. Have students notice the shape of the water ontop of the quarter versus the shape of the alcohol on the quarter. Why does water form a round drop? Why can so many drops of water fit on the quarter before it spills over? The strong attractive forces of hydrogen bonding of course.

Then you can lick off the alcohol.