This week we covered a lot of material and did a lot of practice with bonding. We started the week with a review of VESPR molecules. We finished making balloon (or electron domain) models and made gumdrop (molecular domain) models. We went back and finished our lab calculations and examined the general trend in class data. Wednesday was a shortened class because of Skytime, but we still had time to get through a POGIL on evaluating lewis structures using formal charge, resonance structures, and bond order. We lost time on Thursday as well because of a fire drill, but we still managed to get through another POGIL about similar concepts, this time including hypervalency. On Friday we white boarded a bunch of problems involving finding the best lewis structure for a molecule. Some of the most important considerations for this were formal charge, hypervalency, electron deficiency, octets/modified octets, and resonance structures. All of these were important because they are likely indicators of whether or not a lewis structure is correct. Then, we had a massive blast to the past with hybridization which linked orbital structures and detailed how and when atoms can have hybridized shells. First, you must add energy, forcing the electrons to disobey Hund's rule, which leaves more orbitals open to bond (like in the case of carbon). Then, all of the orbitals that were changed by this addition of energy are to be redrawn as a part of a hybrid orbital, sp.
I believe I may understand hybridization now, although after (and during) the Lquiz I was horribly confused. After a good period of focusing on other things I have had time to mull it over and I am fairly sure I understand it. As far as I can tell, Hybridization is just a way of describing how atoms in the second period can form the bonds that they do while allowing it to still be drawn in orbital diagrams. I understood the lewis structures, but I need more practice with them. It didn't help that Jackson was really, really good at doing them quickly (as was Nishant) but I needed a little more time to get my thoughts together, so I couldn't be sure if I reached my answers on my own or through their work. I tried hard to participate in my own personal growth and that of my table mates as much as possible this week, although I felt that I was 'carried' more that usual just because my group was so much faster than I was at the work. I think that I understand most of the material that we learned this week, but I need to practice it all, especially lewis structures, a lot more to improve my meager skills. I did have a few questions. First, Why doesn't hybridization work for the elements in the third and continuing periods (other than that you said so)? Second, how do you know which elements hybridize? Is it just determined by drawing the orbitals and looking at how many bonds they should make, and then how many bonds they do and comparing the two? Lastly, How do you know what orbital will be involved in a bond and what is in a hybrid orbital? What do those even mean? Also (these are from the Lquiz), why would you ask what is in a hybrid orbital when there aren't any hybrid orbitals involved? (I'm growing to enjoy reflective blogs. They are a good place to rant about things I don't understand and redeem myself by answering things I screwed up properly.)
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