Intermolecular hydrogen bonds in liquid water and in ice

Once the molecular model has loaded into the black square, move it by dragging the mouse. You can display either the liquid water model or the ice model.

Spherical atoms. The atomic radii used in this display (1.0 Å for oxygen, 0.7 Å for hydrogen) are intermediate between van der Waals and covalent radii. Sticks with dot surfaces. The dot surfaces represent van der Waals radii. Sticks only. show H bonds (not visible for spheres), when distance from H to O is under 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 angstroms. show the grid of bonds between molecules. Description: In this model of liquid water, 96 molecules form a globule or droplet. Each H2O molecule forms up to 4 hydrogen bonds with its neighbours. In this model of ice, 96 water molecules are ordered forming a crystal, where each one of them forms 4 hydrogen bonds with neighbour molecules.

The water globule model was prepared by reducing the number of molecules in the original model by Michael F. Bruist; this had been prepared using the program Leap.

The ice crystal model was prepared by reducing the number of molecules in the original model (ICES-hex.pdb) from Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group.

In this page, the model is shown using Jmol capabilities. Covalent bonds are automatically determined by Jmol, while hydrogen bonds are generated between those oxygen and hydrogen atoms that are not covalently bonded and are separated by a distance below the value specified above.