H2O & Hydrogen bonds

Why the water molecule can hydrogen bond to 4 (rather than ex. 3 or 5) other water molecules?

[quote=“Maria_Budzowska, post:1, topic:6013, full:true”]
Why the water molecule can hydrogen bond to 4 (rather than ex. 3 or 5) other water molecules?
[/quote]Water molecules can hydrogen bond to four other water molecules due to the combination of their tetrahedral molecular structure and the presence of two lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen atom. Each water molecule can form two hydrogen bonds with its hydrogen atoms and two additional hydrogen bonds with neighboring water molecules using its lone pairs, allowing for a total of four hydrogen bonds.

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thaanks a lot! now i understand!