can anyone explain hybridization in a simple manner?

Question

s,p,d,f >whts the reason behind their shapes, and determination of quantam values and all tht please help!

Answer 1

Hybridization in part refers to the phenomenon of "sharing" of electrons between the parts of an organic molecule.

(I'll use methane to explain -- Pauling's old darling.)

Now, where hydrogen bonds with carbon, it attracts some of the valence electrons of the carbon. This shifts the electron from its 2s orbital to a 2p orbital. Paradoxically, this at the same time increases carbon's influence on the electron. This is because of the relative charge of the nucleus in relation to the electron. The carbon wants to get the electron back to its 2s orbital but it is constantly being yanked into 2p. So, in essence, we have created a tug-of-war between the carbon and the hydrogen.

To explain what is happening here, we have created this idea of "hybridized orbitals". The mixing of the 2s orbital with the 2p orbital creates a "hybrid". So, methane has in essence 4sp^3 orbitals. And. because these forces are equal in their "yankings" we find that the angles formed by these bonds are about 120 degrees each. (These are called sigma bonds -- the simplest. By contrast, you can get pi bonds too -- when the p orbitals of carbon atoms overlap -- for example, with benzene.)

You will find that as you progress through organic chemistry that the angles will vary depending on which atoms are bonded to the respective carbon atom.

(If you think this is confusing, then bear in mind that some physical chemists have taken this even further and have started to describe the hybrid orbitals in terms of the percent of overlaps between orbitals!)

BTW, if you want more answered, then you might wish to rephrase your question or word it more clearly. (The above question seems to be about five different questions.)

Answer 2

Asking what the reason for the shapes of the bonds is sort of like asking why does a ripple in a pond have its shape when you vibrate the water by throwing a small pebble in the water. That is the shape that allows the electron to "vibrate" at its lowest energy level. This can be shown mathematically by the Schroedenger Equations. But unless you have had spherical trigonometry and calculus you had best pass on studying the equations.

As you add more electrons and more shells of electrons the shapes become more complex as the atom's electron clouds seek and form their lowest energy levels. When you join two atoms together in a bond the shapes of the electron clouds can become even more complex. Again the bond electrons are just trying to get into the lowest energy configuration. [Getting into the lowest energy level is one of the basic laws of the universe and are called the Laws of Thermodynamics. Just like water flowing down hill, it is what "drives" the universe forward in time. Save that for another time.]

You have probably seen the shapes of simple s, p, d, and f orbitals by themselves and your chemistry book probably has drawings of simple bonds and hybridized bonds, especially the sigma and pi bonds. These hybridized bonds are combinging the electrons from both the s and p shells together to form the lowest energy levels they can.

The notation of sp, sp2, sp3 are simply indicating how many electrons are involved in the hybridized bond from the s and p orbitals.

You didn't say whether this is a general or honors high school chemistry class or a intro college course. But this is probably the most difficult visualization that a high school chemistry student has to do. I'm guessing that it is an honors chemistry as most teachers don't talk about hybridization in general chemistry classes. So it is down hill from here until you hit thermochemistry.

Hope this and the other answers help.

Answer 3

Sadly, this is not a simple concept. I don't think anyone can explain it briefly so that a non-chemist will get it.

In general, what's going on is that the electrons are trying to stay as far away from each other as possible while staying as close to the nucleus as possible. The Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle plays a role in keeping the electrons from collapsing all the way to the nucleus and staying there. The wave nature of electrons also plays a role because they have to hang around in certain patterns to reinforce themselves into a stable orbital.

It's not a complete answer, but it's all I can figure out how to put into a short message.

Answer 4

Hi. I hope you can read through your book a few times, by yourself, without any distractions, to understand it. It's really a very simple idea. It would take your chapter in the book for me to explain it to you though. So, I looked up a site you can go to that explains it very well, I think.
http://chemistry.boisestate.edu/rbanks/inorganic/bonding%20and%20hybridization/bonding_hybridization.htm
Have fun with it. Get a Molecule kit, too, and make some molecules. It's really a blast, and helps you understand hybridization.

Answer 5

there is no way that anyone can tell the exact location of an electron around the nucleus, so we can only generalize the relative location that the electron could be. spdf orbitals all increase in energy respectively. the s orbital has the lease about of energy and needs to be filled before an electron has enough energy to be placed in a p orbital and so on.

Answer 6

it's not simple, but your basic chem book does a decent job. it's based on quantum physics and what we know about the universe. the reason behind their shape is it fits the best guess we have. it's not a simple concept to grasp, but have fun with wikipedia.

Answer 7

Chill man! Who cares about hybradization?