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CHEM 121 Studioby Learn4Less · UBC CHEM 121

CHEM 121 glossary

sp³ hybrid orbital

One of four hybrid orbitals made by mixing one s and three p orbitals. They point to the corners of a tetrahedron (109.5°) and leave no unhybridized p orbital, so an sp3sp^3 atom forms only σ bonds and lone pairs; an atom with steric number 4 is sp3sp^3.

sp³ hybrid orbitals4 sp³ hybrid orbitals point away from each other in a tetrahedral arrangement, 109.5° apart. all four valence orbitals are used.109.5°four sp³ orbitals · tetrahedralall four valence orbitals are used

Example

O in HX2O\ce{H2O} has 2 bonds + 2 lone pairs, so it is sp3sp^3: two hybrids overlap H 1s1s orbitals and two hold the lone pairs, which squeeze the H–O–H angle to 104.5°. A CHX2\ce{CH2} between two C=C, as in 1,4-pentadiene, is sp3sp^3 and breaks the conjugation.

See alsoHybridizationTetrahedralσ bond (sigma bond)Lone pair