shape

[bgiorgi_3A]

Hey guys! Quick question. If we are given an example of a coordination compound that has a coordination number of 4 and it asks what shape it makes, how do we know if it is tetrahedral or square planar?

[Charlotte Adams 1A]

I believe we do not know and I don't think we would be asked to identify. I think we should just know that if a coordination compound has a coordination number of 6 it is an octahedron and if it is four it can be tetrahedral or square planar.

[Sophia Stewart 3F]

I'm with Charlotte. I'm pretty sure Dr. Lavelle explicitly said we didn't have to know which of the shapes it was, only that it could be either of the two.

[Erika Sosa-Cruz 1J]

I don't think he'll ask us that question on this final but we should just understand that it could either be a square planner or tetrahederal.

[Norah Gidanian 3D]

The people above said it best but yes we do not need to know which one of the two it would be but I am pretty sure we should know that the heme complex ligand is square planar and that the three most common shapes are tetrahedral square planar and octahedral.

[Gustavo_Chavez_1K]

To my understanding an example of a tetrahedral is a lot more common than that of square planar, but Dr. Lavelle said in lecture that we wouldn't necessarily need to know which of the two shapes it is. All we need to know is that it can be either of the two shapes.

[JTieu_1L]

We do not need to know if it's tetrahedral or square planar yet but we do know that myoglobin is made out of a square planar with poryphorin.