[Woopy]

Hello,

I am looking at the sigma and pi bonds and trying to understand them. I know that the bond is the overlap of the orbitals, in the case of sigma bonds two s-orbitals and the pi bonds is the p-orbitals.

When you have the sp hybrid orbitals, how are there only the same number of hybrid orbitals as the sum of the exponents i.e. an sp2 hybrid would have 3 sp2 orbitals.

Also, how does the overlap of the orbitals give any strength to the bond? What do these orbitals consist of? Is it just empty space with an electron that resides within its boundaries? If so, why do these bonds occur? Why wouldn't the electrons from the separate p-orbitals repel instead of attract to cause a stronger bond?