Lecture example ethene

[Nadya Higgins 3F]

I was watching today's lecture and got confused on the example of ethene. I was wondering if anyone could explain to me why ethene has sp3 orbitals when it was an example of sp2 hybridization, and also what Dr. Lavelle meant when he was talking about the energy gap and the spin-pair energy?

[Eunice_Castro_1G]

Hi! I am also confused on the first part of your question, but I think I can explain the second part. So because the the gap between the "regular" atomic orbital space between 2p and 2s is larger than the gap between the the hybridized and the 2p then there can be no paired electrons. Hope this helps!

[Kailani_Dial_2K]

Hi Nadya, ethene has 2sp^2 hybridized orbitals, it does not have 2sp^3

[Nadya Higgins 3F]

Hi! I am also confused on the first part of your question, but I think I can explain the second part. So because the the gap between the "regular" atomic orbital space between 2p and 2s is larger than the gap between the the hybridized and the 2p then there can be no paired electrons. Hope this helps!

Ah this makes a bit more sense, thank you!

[Nadya Higgins 3F]

Hi Nadya, ethene has 2sp^2 hybridized orbitals, it does not have 2sp^3

I see, I must have misunderstood his example; I will watch that part of the lecture again. Thanks for your help!

[AnnaNovoselov1G]

The 2p and 2sp^2 orbitals a smaller energy gap between them than 2s and 2p because the 2sp^2 hybridized orbital is found in between the 2s and 2p orbitals. Atoms forms hybridized orbitals because it makes the resulting molecule more stable (lower potential energy) because it allows the regions of electron density to spread further apart (the energy gap energy is smaller than the spin pairing energy).

I hope that helps you understand the concept better!

[Taber Ball 1F]

The 2p and 2sp^2 orbitals a smaller energy gap between them than 2s and 2p because the 2sp^2 hybridized orbital is found in between the 2s and 2p orbitals. Atoms forms hybridized orbitals because it makes the resulting molecule more stable (lower potential energy) because it allows the regions of electron density to spread further apart (the energy gap energy is smaller than the spin pairing energy).

I hope that helps you understand the concept better!

I had a similar question from the lecture and your explanation was so helpful! Thank you!

[Haochen He 3L]

Hi! I think ethene has sp2 orbitals instead of sp3 orbitals. C has 3 electrons in 2sp2 orbitals and 1 electron in 2p electron. Hope it helps!

[Nadya Higgins 3F]

The 2p and 2sp^2 orbitals a smaller energy gap between them than 2s and 2p because the 2sp^2 hybridized orbital is found in between the 2s and 2p orbitals. Atoms forms hybridized orbitals because it makes the resulting molecule more stable (lower potential energy) because it allows the regions of electron density to spread further apart (the energy gap energy is smaller than the spin pairing energy).

I hope that helps you understand the concept better!

Yes that helped, thank you!

[Jenny Chau 1I]

Hi, I also noticed during the lecture that he wrote sp3 next to the bonds of the lewis structure for ethene. He initially wrote sp2 next to one of the bonds but then started writing 2sp3. I don't think anyone explained why he did that though. Was it because there's an electron in 2p and that's why he wrote that?