Answer to Question #137199 in General Chemistry for Kathlyn

Question

Why glycerol has a higher viscosity than water

Answer 1

Glycerol is has 3 OH groups . Which means to one molecule can atleast form 6 hydrogen bonds. This means that the intermolecular forces are much greater because of these many hydrogen bonds. Therefore the viscosity increases.

The hydrogen bonding in glycerol is

but in case of water molecule,there is only 1 OH group, so intermolecular forces is lower than glycerol.hydrogen bonding in water molecules is

That is why, glycerol has a higher viscosity than water.