Before you read this, I suggest you read post 25.1. In post 25.1, I started to describe how the valence bond theory explains how carbon and hydrogen atoms are joined in molecules of ethane, ethene and ethyne (see picture above). My purpose was to introduce the concept of hybrid orbitals. In this post, I am… Continue reading 25.2 Sigma bonds and pi bonds
Before you read this, I suggest you read posts 16.30 and 24.12. I am going to use the bonding in molecules of ethane, ethene and ethyne (see the picture above) to introduce the concept of hybrid orbitals. In post 16.31, we saw that, according to the valence bond theory, a molecule consists of atoms held… Continue reading 25.1 Hybrid orbitals
In post 16.29, we saw that the lowest energy levels in an atom are conventionally labelled, in order of increasing energy, 1s, 2s and 2p. There are three 2p levels that all correspond to the same energy; they are denoted 2px, 2py, and 2pz. Electrons occupy these energy levels according to the principles explained in… Continue reading 24.12 Atomic orbitals
Thinking about Science with David Hukins 