CHEM101: General Chemistry I

3.2: Molecular Structure

• 3.2.1: Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) Theory

  • Stephen Lower's "General Chemistry Virtual Textbook: Molecular Geometry"

    Read this webpage. Can you explain why carbon dioxide is a linear molecule, while water is bent? Lone pairs of electrons from the Lewis structures become very important here.
    

• 3.2.2: Hybridization of Atomic Orbitals

  • 3.2.2.1: Single Bonds: s and p orbitals

    • Stephen Lower's "General Chemistry Virtual Textbook: The Hybrid Orbital Model - Part 1"

      Read this webpage. The material introduces hybrid orbital theory and explains why atomic orbitals do not explain bonding. Molecules examined here contain single bonds and lone pairs.
      

  • 3.2.2.2: Multiple Bonds, Resonance, and d orbitals

    • Stephen Lower's "General Chemistry Virtual Textbook: Hybrid Orbitals - Part 2: Multiple Bonds, d Orbitals"

      Read this webpage. This material is a continuation of hybrid orbital theory, examining multiple bonds, resonance, and d orbitals.