[Aznhmonglor]

Ok here goes another confusing question for me...

Presuming that Methane and Ammonia have the same "Hybridization", in what kind of orbital are the two lone pair electrons of ammonia found?

The choices are:

sp2
pure s
pure p
sp3
sp
sp4

so confused right now...Im thinking its sp2 right now but anybody second on that?

[azmanam]

what's the hybridization of the carbon atom in methane?

It will be the same hybridization as the nitrogen atom in ammonia.

The lone pairs of electrons in ammonia will be in the same types of orbitals as on the carbon atom in methane.

it's not sp2

[Aznhmonglor]

Thanks for the reply aznmanam but still kind of confused...I know there is 2s and 2p orbitals...is that correct? then it must be in the pure s orbital?

[azmanam]

Not quite.  Try these websites and see if you can answer my questions again.

Here are some thoughts while you read these sites: how many valence shell electrons does carbon have?  In what orbitals are the valence shell electrons of carbon located? how many bonds does carbon make? How do the orbitals of the carbon atom change in order to accommodate this number of bonds (i.e. what is the hybridization of the orbitals of the carbon atom when bound as in methane)?

Now that we know what the hybridization of the carbon atom in methane is, that is the same hybridization of the nitrogen atom in ammonia, as the question tells us.  So what is the hybridization of the nitrogen atom in ammonia?  The lone pair of electrons will reside in the same kind of hybrid orbital as the N-H bond and the C-H bond.  so what kind of orbital are the two lone pair electrons of ammonia found?


http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/c120/hybrid.html
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/Hybridization-of-Atomic-Orbitals.topicArticleId-22667,articleId-22593.html
http://www.chm.davidson.edu/ChemistryApplets/AtomicOrbitals/hybrid.html