Which hydride has the highest boiling point among the following?

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The hydride with the highest boiling point among the given options is water (H₂O). This is primarily due to the presence of strong hydrogen bonding in water, which significantly elevates its boiling point compared to the other hydrides listed.

In water, each molecule can form hydrogen bonds with neighboring water molecules because of its polar nature and the presence of highly electronegative oxygen atoms. These hydrogen bonds are relatively strong intermolecular forces that require a considerable amount of energy to break, leading to a higher boiling point.

In contrast, the other hydrides such as hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), hydrogen selenide (H₂Se), and hydrogen telluride (H₂Te) exhibit weaker van der Waals forces or dipole-dipole interactions due to their larger atomic sizes and lower electronegativity of sulfur, selenium, and tellurium. Although the boiling points of these compounds increase with molecular weight, they do not reach the boiling point of water, which is around 100°C at standard atmospheric pressure. Hence, while H₂S, H₂Se, and H₂Te have boiling points that reflect their molecular size, they cannot compete with the strong hydrogen bonding present in water.

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