Individuals consume many beverages in our daily life. For example, children drink a cup of hot chocolate before going to school in the morning, working adults purchase a hot coffee on the way to work, the elderly enjoy a cup of hot tea in the afternoon etc. There is one common factor among these beverages where sugar can be added into it to sweeten the drinks thereby reduces the bitterness.

How sugar is dissolved in water? What role does the hydrogen bond played in this process?

Sugar has a scientific name of sucrose. It is made up of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms (Reference, 2017). Similarly to water, the oxygen atoms which are negatively charged are bonded to the hydrogen atoms which are positively charged in the sucrose, forming the O-H bonds that are polar. The sucrose molecules are attracted to one another. This is due to the dipole-dipole forces between the O atoms in one sucrose molecules and the H atoms in another sucrose molecules. These attractions are known as the hydrogen bonds. (Ernest, 2015)

When sugar is added into water, the water molecules are able to separate the hydrogen bonds that hold the sucrose molecules together thus insert itself in between them (Orem, 2011). O-H groups in water then form hydrogen bonds to the sucrose molecules and vice versa. This process takes place because the intermolecular forces among the sucrose molecule and water is stronger as compared to the intermolecular forces among the sucrose molecules themselves (Ernest, 2015). When the intermolecular bonds are formed between the polar water molecules and polar sucrose molecules, energy is released. The energy produced is sufficient to offset the energy needed to break the hydrogen bonds in the first place (Bodner Research Web, 2017). After going through these processes, sugar is dissolved in the water.

The sugar added is called solute. The dissolving process begins once this solute is added into liquid such as hot chocolate, hot coffee or hot tea, which is known as the solvent. The sugar molecules separate and diffuse in solvent particles, where a homogeneous mixture (the solution) is created (Net Industries, 2017). Ultimately, the beverage is sweetened and is ready for consumption.

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