chemistry CAIE A levels

[vedette]

please who here understands hybridization really well?

 

[PlanetMaster]

please who here understands hybridization really well?

Hybridisation usually occurs around and with carbon molecules, so lets look at them.

In a methane molecule, there is one carbon and 4 hydrogens. Now, we know that carbon has 4 free electrons in its valence shell. We know that the 1s shell is filled with 2 electrons. We would also expect the 2s shell to be filled with 2 electrons. Now, what normal chemistry classes tell you is that each of these 2p shells are aligned around a certain axis, in three dimensions. Thus, each of them can be named according to their axis alignment as 2px, 2py and 2pz. We would expect to see these shells in their normal dumb-bell shapes. So, one electron is filled into the 2px and 2py shells respectively. Remember, both electrons have the same spin. Also remember that this is just an expected scenario, not what really happens.

Instead, the hydrogen knocks off one electron from the 2s shell and transfers it to the 2pz shell, which is empty. We now have one electron in each of the 2nd orbital's shells. Now, each of these shells have the same number of electrons with the same spin on each, making them have the same properties. Thus, they can all be grouped into one category- and we call this category a hybridised (hybrid meaning mixed or combined) shell. Since this new shell is a mixture of one 2s and three 2p shells, we call it a hybridised sp3 shell. The same thing occurs with sp2 and sp hybridised shells, except with a smaller ratio of s to p mixture.

Hope this helps.

P.S. This answer is copied from an earlier post

 

[vedette]

thanks i understand it better now