Which factor is most responsible for the fact that water is a liquid rather than a gas at room temperature?

high intermolecular forces of attraction

low intermolecular forces of attraction

van der Waals forces

London dispersion forces

Question

Which factor is most responsible for the fact that water is a liquid rather than a gas at room temperature?

high intermolecular forces of attraction

low intermolecular forces of attraction

van der Waals forces

London dispersion forces

anonymous · Answer

@SolomonZelman @dan815

anonymous · Answer

@JFraser

jfraser · Answer

can you eliminate any?

anonymous · Answer

I got the answer. It is Low Inter-molecular?

jfraser · Answer

if water had low intermolecular attractions, would it "hold together" well as a liquid at room temp?

anonymous · Answer

Wait, it's high intermolecular?

jfraser · Answer

water has high intermolecular attractions

anonymous · Answer

I have confused myself into a flurry.

jfraser · Answer

water is a fairly small molecule, like $CH_4$ and $NH_3$. both these molecules are $gases$ at room temperature though. Water is the only of these three that's a liquid at room temp.

jfraser · Answer

turning a liquid into a gas means getting the molecules to "break free" from their neighbor molecules and become gas. If the molecules have $weak$ intermolecular attractions, it's pretty easy to do that and the substance will be a gas at room temp