107 Stories About Chemistry
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According to the rules water should exist here only in the vapour form. Now imagine a world where the properties of water obey the strict regularities of the Periodic System. For fiction writers such a unique picture would be an excellent basis for thinking up amusing novels and stories. But for us, and for scientists, it is further evidence that the Periodic Table is a much more complex structure than it seems at first glance and that the characters of its inhabitants very greatly resemble those of live people in that they cannot be confined to definite bounds. Water is of a wilful character. . . But why? Because the molecules of water have a specific arrangement and for this reason possess a pronounced ability to attract one another. In vain would we look for single molecules in a glass of water. The molecules form groups which scientists call associations. And it would be more correct to write the formula of water as (H2O)n , the subscript n indicating the number of molecules in the association. These associative bonds between the water molecules are very difficult to break. And that is why water freezes and boils at much higher temperatures than would be expected..
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