## 4.43

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

MichelleTran3I
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:06 am

### 4.43

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 decrease as the s-character of the hybrids is increased?

What do they mean when they say s-character? Thanks!

Jared Smith 1E
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:04 am

### Re: 4.43

I think that when they say "s character" they mean the proportion of the hybridized orbital that the single s orbital makes up. For example as p and d orbitals get added (sp, sp^2, sp^3, sp^3d...etc), the s character of the hybridized orbital goes down because it makes up a smaller part of the total hybridized orbital.

Pooja Nair 1C
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:00 am

### Re: 4.43

The s-character can be thought of as the percent of s out of all the orbitals. For example, an sp hybridized atom has 50% s-character, a sp^2 hybridized atom has 33.3% s-character, a sp^3 hybridized atom has 25% s-character, and so on. Based on the question, as s-character increases, the bond angle increases as well.

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