9.3 Hybridization | General Chemistry

Chad provides a lesson on hybridization and hybrid orbitals. The lesson begins with an introduction to Valence Bond Theory which describes a bond as resulting from the overlap of atomic orbitals. It is then shown how it is not possible for carbon to be using its 's' and 'p' orbitals to form bonds with the hydrogen atoms in CH4 (methane) as it would not result in the proper bond angles (109.5 degrees). The combination of carbon's 's' and 'p' orbitals results in the creation of four sp3 hybrid orbitals that are oriented 109.5 degrees apart, and these are responsible for bond formation when overlapping with the 's' orbitals of the hydrogen atoms.

The lesson is concluded by showing how to determine the hybridization of an atom based upon the number of electron domains around it:
2 electron domains = sp hybridization
3 electron domains = sp2 hybridization
4 electron domains = sp3 hybridization
5 electron domains = sp3d hybridization
6 electron domains = sp3d2 hybridization
The last two, sp3d and sp3d2 hybridization only occur with expanded octets which are only possible for elements in the 3rd row of the periodic table or below which will have d orbitals in their valence shell.

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00:00 Lesson Introduction
00:53 Hybrid Orbitals Explained - Valence Bond Theory
04:16 sp3 Hybridization in CH4
10:36 sp vs sp2 vs sp3 Hybridization

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