## 2F.15

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

JamieVu_2C
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:16 am

### 2F.15

Noting that the bond angle of an sp3 hybridized atom is 109.5 degrees and that of an sp2 hybridized atom is 120 degrees, do you expect the bond angle between two hybrid orbitals to increase or decrease as the s-character of the hybrids is increased?

Can someone explain this to me? I don't understand how the s-character affects bond angle.

christabellej 1F
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: 2F.15

In an sp3 hybrid, there is around 25% s character since there is one part s and three parts p. For sp2, there is about 33% character. Since the bond angle for sp2, which has greater s character, is a bigger angle than sp3, you could expect the bond angle to increase as the s character of the hybrids is increased. This is proven in sp, which has a bond angle of 180.

KNguyen_1I
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: 2F.15

Another way to think about it is the fewer regions of electron density, the greater the bond angle because there are just simply less things to repel. And this checks out with what was already said with that as you have fewer hybridized orbitals, there is greater s-character in each orbital. So the s-character is related to number of hybridized orbitals you have (with increasing s-character, the fewer orbitals) and therefore electron density and so the fewer regions you have the less there is to repel.