The relative strengths of covalent bonds and van der Waals interactions remain the same when tested in a vacuum or in water. However, this is not true of hydrogen bonds or ionic bonds, whose bond strength is lowered considerably in the presence of water in comparison with the bond strength observed in a vacuum. A logical explanation to these observations is that the estimated bond strengths measure the amount of energy needed to break them. Covalent and Van der Waals attractions have intrinsic value independent of the environment while hydrogen bonds depend on any charged or polar molecule with reducing strength of the interaction they would otherwise have in the absence of water (in a vacuum).
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