Conceptual meaning of hybridization

[605208780]

What happens in hybridization? Like why does it happen? Does it lower the energy of the molecule?

[Maia_Jackson_2C]

Hybridization lowers the overall energy level by moving electrons around and creating hybrid orbitals to free up all of the electrons. The energy levels of the electrons will be between that of the two orbitals that are hybridized.

[Sanjana K - 2F]

In hybridization, you basically have atomic orbitals mixing into new hybrid orbitals in order to better pair electrons to form chemical bonds in VSEPR (affecting molecular geometry and bonding properties). And yes, this does lower the energy of the molecule, so hybridized molecules are more stable.

[Vicki Liu 2L]

Hybridization explains how a carbon atom is able to form 4 covalent bonds. Looking at the orbital diagram for ground state carbon, its valence shell consists of a filled 2s orbital and 2 half-filled 2p orbitals. The only way carbon would be able to accommodate 4 shared electron pairs is by promoting one of the 2s electrons to the empty 2p orbital and forming hybrid sp3 orbitals.