Clarification on hybridization

[William Cryer 1L]

Just to clarify, lone pairs are included as one area of electron density right? It's not just bonds, but also lone pairs that contribute to the type of hybridization?

[Kevin Ru 1D]

Yes, lone pairs also contribute to the type of hybridization. For example, BrF3 has a Br with two lone pairs bonded to three F atoms making it sp^3d (5 areas of electron density). Hope that helps!

[Shannee Mak 3F]

Yep! Another example would also be NH3. N would have a lone pair as well as three H atoms bonded to it. There are 4 regions of electron density and so then the hybridization of N would be sp^3

[Dang Lam]

yes! remember AXE?
A = central atom
X = bonded atom
E = bonded lone pairs