4.43

[huntercrespo1C]

Noting that the bond angle of an sp3 hybridized atom is 109.5 and that of an sp2 hybridized atom is 120, do you expect the bond angle between two hybrid orbitals to increase or descremase as the s character of the hybrids is increased? In this question what is meant by the “s character” because isn’t the value of p the only one changing?

[Chem_Mod]

Yes, only the number of p orbitals involved in the hybridization is changing, but because the total number of orbitals being hybridized is changing, the proportion of s to p in each hybrid orbital is changing; it is going from 25% s character (one s orbital mixed into four hybrid sp³ orbitals) to 33% s character (one s orbital mixed into three hybrid sp² orbitals).