Which of the following describes water?

Question

A.Is a substance that dissolves only a few other substances; has weak cohesive forces between molecules.

B.Is a substance that dissolves only a few other substances; has strong cohesive forces between molecules.

C.Is a substance that requires a small amount of energy per gram to raise its temperature; has strong cohesive forces between molecules.

D.Is a substance that requires a large amount of energy per gram to raise its temperature; has strong cohesive forces between molecules.

Answer 1

The answer here is D.

Let's go over each of the answers and its explanations for why it's true/false.

A) Water is actually a great solvent and can dissolve more than just a few things. It only has trouble dissolving non-polar molecules and things like oil. So the first half of the statement is false. The second half is also false. Water has strong cohesive forces between molecules. This in due fact to the hydrogen bond between molecules in water.

B) The first part is false as already explained before.

C) Specific heat is defined as the amount of energy to raise the unit mass(per gram in this case) of a given substance's temperature. Water has one of highest specific heats. Water can absorb large amounts of heat before raising its temperature. The first half of the statement is then false. The second half is true as already explained before.

D) This leads to only looking at D as a possible solution. As already explained before, both parts of this statement are true.