9.4. Hybridization of Atomic Orbitals http://www.ck12.org
FIGURE 9.38
The process ofsp^3 hybridization is the
mixing of ansorbital with a set of three
porbitals to form a set of foursp^3 hybrid
orbitals. Each large lobe of the hybrid
orbitals points to one corner of a tetrahe-
dron.FIGURE 9.39
The trigonal pyramidal ammonia molecule
also results fromsp^3 hybridization of the
central (nitrogen) atom. Of the four
groups of electrons surrounding the ni-
trogen atom, three form single covalent
bonds to hydrogen atoms, while one
group is a lone pair.