CHEM 281 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Lone Pair, Molecular Geometry, Covalent Bond
30 Aug 2018
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Chapter 1 notes part 11: electronic structure and bonding. 1. 11: the bonds in ammonia and in the ammonium ion. The nitrogen atom in ammonia (nh3) forms three covalent bonds and has one lone pair. However, this simple picture presents a problem. If nitrogen uses p orbitals to form the three n-h bonds, as predicted by its electronic configuration, then we would expect bond angles of about 90 because the three p orbitals are at right angles to each other. But the experimentally observed bond angles in nh3 are 107. 3 . The observed bond angles can be explained if we assume that nitrogen uses hybrid orbitals to form covalent bonds just as carbon does. The s orbital and three p orbitals hybridize to form four degenerate sp3 orbitals. Nitrogen hybridizes four orbitals because it forms three bonds and has one lone pair.
