Orbital Hybridization Confusion

[GeorgianCMV]

Here is what I don't understand:

Carbon's electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p2. And, of course, I memorized a long time ago that a single bond is sp3 hybridized, a double sp2, and a triple sp. The Kaplan book says that methane consists of four sp3 orbitals. But how did they come to that conclusion? How does 1s2 2s2 2p2 translate to 4 sp3 orbitals?

I know that p consists of px, py, and pz, so I understand the "p3" part. But shouldn't there be two s orbitals since there's both 1s2 AND 2s2?

I am probably doing a terrible job of explaining why I'm confused. But if anyone gets it, can you please help me?! 🙂 Thanks!

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[reine1jb]

Here is what I don't understand:

Carbon's electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p2. And, of course, I memorized a long time ago that a single bond is sp3 hybridized, a double sp2, and a triple sp. The Kaplan book says that methane consists of four sp3 orbitals. But how did they come to that conclusion? How does 1s2 2s2 2p2 translate to 4 sp3 orbitals?

I know that p consists of px, py, and pz, so I understand the "p3" part. But shouldn't there be two s orbitals since there's both 1s2 AND 2s2?

I am probably doing a terrible job of explaining why I'm confused. But if anyone gets it, can you please help me?! 🙂 Thanks!

my understanding of it is, is that the 1s electrons aren't part of the valence electrons in carbon. As we know there are 4 valance electrons in carbon's outer electron shell. Two in the 2s2 and 2 in the 2p subshell. Now if you think about the electron distribution if there wasn't any hybridization there would be 2 electrons in the 2s and one elctron in the 2px and one electron in the 2py but none in the 2pz. Given this configuration how could a carbon molecule form four equivilent bonds? The answer is it couldn't thus the 2s and 2pxyz orbitals combine together to give four sp3 orbitals. Thus now the electrons can be evenly distributed among the 4 sp3 orbitals allowing for 4 equivilent bonds to be formed.

Sorry for the messy spelling I have my mcat in 1 hour and 20 minutes YAYAYA hope this helps

 

[PRodulous]

Here is what I don't understand:

Carbon's electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p2. And, of course, I memorized a long time ago that a single bond is sp3 hybridized, a double sp2, and a triple sp. The Kaplan book says that methane consists of four sp3 orbitals. But how did they come to that conclusion? How does 1s2 2s2 2p2 translate to 4 sp3 orbitals?

I know that p consists of px, py, and pz, so I understand the "p3" part. But shouldn't there be two s orbitals since there's both 1s2 AND 2s2?

I am probably doing a terrible job of explaining why I'm confused. But if anyone gets it, can you please help me?! 🙂 Thanks!

My simple understanding of hybridization occurs with electrons in the valence shell (in the case of carbon, the 2s and 2p electrons). In the process of hybridization, electrons on these two orbitals interact to create a new sp3 hybridized orbit. Since there are 4 valence electrons, 4 hybridized orbitals are formed.

The new sp3 hybridized orbital has a median energy level when compared to the 2s and 2p orbital. This allows maximum overlap of electron fields when a covalent bond (say between carbon and hydrogen) is formed in methane. Since the sp3 orbital has a middle energy level, of the 2s and 2p, the overall energy of the molecule is lower than if it were not hybridized.

One other point of interest is that though there are 4 sp3 hybridized orbitals on the carbon, the orbital of the hydrogen is still 1s. Thus, it would be a sp3-s interact/bond. It's somewhat obvious, but it was a real "ah-ha" moment for me.🙂

Anyways, I hope this answers your question to some degree. It's been a while since I looked at the specifics on this topic, please correct me if anything seems off.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

Thanks so much to both of you. I knew that the valence electrons were the ones participating in bonding, but it didn't click in relation to hybridization. So since there are 4 valence electrons participating in bonding in Carbon, and there are 4 sp3 hybrid orbitals, does that mean there there is only one electron per orbital? Does that make sense?

 

[RPedigo]

Thanks so much to both of you. I knew that the valence electrons were the ones participating in bonding, but it didn't click in relation to hybridization. So since there are 4 valence electrons participating in bonding in Carbon, and there are 4 sp3 hybrid orbitals, does that mean there there is only one electron per orbital? Does that make sense?

Yes, that is how it can make four bonds, by sharing electrons with something else that has an unpaired electron (i.e. hydrogen). Hydrogen has one electron, so it's unpaired, carbon has one electron in a sp3 orbital, so by sharing they are both happy. This can happen four times, one for each sp3 orbital, giving you CH4 in the end (with all sp3 orbitals now having two electrons since they are sharing with four hydrogens).

 

[GeorgianCMV]

Ok. Got it. Thank you soooo much...that really helped.