Question

7 points on hybridisation

Answer 1

• It is a concept of mixing atomic orbital into new hybrid orbital suitable for pairing electron to form chemical bond in valence bond theory.

• Hybrid orbitals are very useful in the explanation of molecular geometry and atomic bonding properties and are symmetrically disposed in space. 

• Chemist Linus Pauling first developed the hybridisation theory in 1931 to explain the structure of simple molecules such as methane (CH4) using atomic orbitals.[2]

• Hybridisation theory finds its use mainly in organic chemistry, one of the most compelling examples being Baldwin's rules

• This concept was developed for such simple chemical systems, but the approach was later applied more widely, and today it is considered an effective heuristic for rationalising the structures of organic compounds. 

• Hybridisation describes the bonding atoms from an atom's point of view. For a tetrahedrally coordinated carbon (e.g., methane CH4), the carbon should have 4 orbitals with the correct symmetry to bond to the 4 hydrogen atoms.

• Carbon's ground state configuration is 1s2 2s22p2 or more easily read:

[C↑↓↑↓↑↑] (1s2s2p2p2p)

The carbon atom can use its two singly occupied p-type orbitals, to form two covalent bonds with two hydrogen atoms, yielding the singlet methylene CH2, the simplest carbene. The carbon atom can also bond to four hydrogen atoms by an excitation of an electron from the doubly occupied 2s orbital to the empty 2p orbital, producing four singly occupied orbitals.

Answer 2

Explanation:

The main features of hybridization are as under :-

1. The number of hybrid orbitals is equal to the number of atomic orbital that get hybridised .

2. The hybridized orbitals are equivalent in energy and shape.

3. The hybrid orbitals and more effective in forming stable bonds than the pure atomic orbitals .

4. These hybrid orbitals are directed in space in some preferred direction to have minimum repulsion between electron pairs and thus a stable arrangement is obtained. Therefore , the type of hybridization indicates the geometry of the molecules .