## Shape of Hybrid Orbitals?

$sp, sp^{2}, sp^{3}, dsp^{3}, d^{2}sp^{3}$

Rebecca Cheung 1E
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:04 am

### Shape of Hybrid Orbitals?

Do hybrid orbitals have a shape? We know the shape of pi and sigma bonds, and I was curious what kind of shape do hybrid orbitals have.

Nhan Nguyen 2F
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:00 am
Been upvoted: 1 time

### Re: Shape of Hybrid Orbitals?

I think that 2sp--> linear, 3sp^2 ----> Trigonal Planar, 4sp^3----> Tetrahedral, 5sp^3d ----> Trigonal bipyramidal, 6sp^3d^2 ----> Octahedral

Andy Liao 1B
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:00 am

### Re: Shape of Hybrid Orbitals?

First and foremost, hybridization is defined as the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals. These hybrid orbitals have different energies, shapes, etc., than the component atomic orbitals. Take for example CH4. In a CH4 molecule, the four H atoms form four equivalent bonds. In each of these bonds, the 1s orbital of a H atom overlaps with one of the sp3 hybrid orbitals to form a C-H bond. The resulting shape of the molecule is tetrahedral. In this sense, I think hybrid orbitals have a shape, but this shape depends on what atomic orbitals are mixed.