Hydrogen bonding drives water's thermal properties

Steps:

• Identify key properties: specific heat, latent heat, and solubility in water.
• Recall hydrogen bonds form between water molecules, requiring energy to break.
• Evaluate options: A misattributes bonds; B links to latent heat; C confuses heat capacities; D ignores amylopectin's insolubility.
• Confirm B matches definition of latent heat as energy to overcome intermolecular forces.

Why B is correct:

• Latent heat of vaporization is the energy needed to change liquid to gas, directly due to breaking strong hydrogen bonds between water molecules.

Why the others are wrong:

• A: High specific heat results from hydrogen bonds absorbing heat via molecular vibration, not bonds between hydrogen atoms (covalent bonds in H2O are intramolecular).
• C: Cooling during evaporation is caused by high latent heat absorbing heat, not specific heat capacity.
• D: Amylopectin, a branched starch, is insoluble in water due to hydrophobic regions despite some hydrophilic chains.

Final answer: B