Question

the bond angle in water is found to be 104.5 instead of 109.28

Answer 1

Because one oxygen has 6 electrons on highest energy level. 2 of them are bonded with hydrogen, leaving 2 lone pairs of electrons.

If you consider each pair of lone electron to be a potential bond, then oxygen would have 4 bonds, which gives a bond angle of 109.5 degree approximately.

However, each lone pairs of electron reduces bond angle by 2.5 degrees because they repel bonded electron pairs more strongly. Therefore the bond angle would be 109.5–5=104.5

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Answer 2

Explanation:

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