A student draws the following particulate-level diagram to represent methanol (CH₃OH) dissolved in liquid water. In the diagram, methanol molecules are shown as intact entities; each water molecule is depicted with two smaller “H” spheres and one larger “O” sphere. The student orients the methanol molecules so that the hydrogen atom of the –OH group points directly toward the hydrogen atoms of nearby water molecules, and dashed lines are drawn between these hydrogen atoms to represent hydrogen bonds.
(a) Identify and explain two specific errors in the student’s depiction of hydrogen bonding between methanol and water.
(b) Redraw or describe a corrected version of the local arrangement of one methanol molecule and two surrounding water molecules, clearly indicating proper orientation and labeling the hydrogen bond(s).
(c) Briefly describe how the concept of “like dissolves like” is illustrated by the corrected arrangement you provided.