S Character Influencing Bond Angles

[Maya Krishnan 3E]

Why when the S character increases, does the bond angle also increase?

[Annalise Eder 2L]

You can determine the bond angle based on the hybridization. SP has 180 degree bond angle, SP2 has 120 degree bond angle, and SP3 has 109.5 degree bond angle usually. As the number of p orbitals increases the s character decreases as does the bond angle as seen with the given numbers.

[Elika Asis 3C]

The number of areas of electron density is usually what you should look at when determining the bond angles, but you should also pay attention to what kind of areas of electron density they are (EX: lone pairs vs. bonds; lone pairs usually repel other atoms more, therefore the bond angles are less than what you would have if an atom solely had bonds.