sugar dissolved in water

No, you've got it right.

See, it goes like this.

Water is...

O-H
|
H

...right? Only in a broad "V" (or chevron, if you prefer) shape.

The oxygen atom likes electrons so much that it pulls them away from the hydrogen atoms. So the oxygen part of water has a slightly negative charge, and the hydrogen part (by partial loss of electrons) has a slightly positive charge.

These partial charges, then, are attracted to each other.

Well, sugars (fer instance, glucose) in their ring form are essentially strings of carbons with -O-H bits sticking off of them, and these behave like the -O-H bits in water -- the oxygen is partly negative, the hydrogen is partly positive. So the positive hydrogen bits in water are attracted to the negative oxygen bits in the sugar, and the positive hydrogen bits in the sugar are attracted to the negative oxygen bits in the water.

Because of this, little water molecules stick to the surfaces of the sugar molecules and thus pry the sugar molecules away from each other. And voila, the sugar is "dissolved" -- the sugar molecules are incorporated into the water and distributed throughout it.

So, yeah, hydrogen-bonding.

-OH . . .

Radical, Dude . . .

H:O:H

H. .O:H

THAT's radical.







Sheesh...

UH..OH Dont get me going on electronegativity

I am pretty sure that UH is not a stable molecule. It certainly wouldn't bond with the hydroxide ion.

Thanks patiodog for clearing that.