Physical Justification
Several real crystals with hydrogen bonds satisfy the ice model, including ice and potassium dihydrogen phosphate KH
2PO
4 (KDP). Indeed, such crystals motivated the study of ice-type models.
In ice, each oxygen atom is connected by a bond to four other oxygens, and each bond contains one hydrogen atom between the terminal oxygens. The hydrogen occupies one of two symmetrically located positions, neither of which is in the middle of the bond. Pauling argued that the allowed configuration of hydrogen atoms is such that there are always exactly two hydrogens close to each oxygen, thus making the local environment imitate that of a water molecule, H
2O. Thus, if we take the oxygen atoms as the lattice vertices and the hydrogen bonds as the lattice edges, and if we draw an arrow on a bond which points to the side of the bond on which the hydrogen atom sits, then ice satisfies the ice model.
Similar reasoning applies to show that KDP also satisfies the ice model.
Read more about this topic: Ice-type Model
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