Explanation of Anomalous Behaviour
Water is a polar molecule, where the centers of positive and negative charge are separated; so molecules will align with an electric field. The extensive hydrogen bonded network in water tends to oppose this alignment, and the degree of alignment is measured by the relative permittivity. Water has a high relative permittivity of about 80 at room temperature; because polarity shifts are rapidly transmitted through shifts in orientation of the linked hydrogen bonds. This allows water to dissolve salts, as the attractive electric field between ions is reduced by about 80–fold. Thermal motion of the molecules disrupts the hydrogen bonding network as temperature increases; so relative permittivity decreases with temperature to about 7 at the critical temperature. At 205 °C the relative permittivity falls to 33, the same as methanol at room temperature. Thus water behaves like a water / methanol mixture between 100 °C and 200 °C. Disruption of extended hydrogen bonding allows molecules to move more freely (viscosity, diffusion and surface tension effects), and extra energy must be supplied to break the bonds (increased heat capacity).
Read more about this topic: Superheated Water
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