Although geometries of NH3 and H2O molecules are distorted tetrahedral, bond angle in water is less than that of Ammonia. Discuss.
Although geometries of NH3 and H2O molecules are distorted tetrahedral, bond angle in water is less than that of Ammonia. Discuss.

Answer:

Ammonia’s central atom (N) has 1 lone pair and 3 bond pairs.

Water’s central atom (O) has two lone pairs and two bond pairs.

The two lone pairs on the O- atom of water reject the two bond pairs. And the repulsion between lone pair and bond pair on H2O’s O-atom is higher than that on NH3’s N-atom.

Despite their distorted tetrahedral shape, H2O’s bond angle is shorter than NH3.