How Do We Know Methane (CH4) Is Tetrahedral?
What Do The Valence Electrons Of Carbon Tell Us About The Bonding In CH4? (Hint: since the dipole moment of CH4 is zero, the answer
Read moreBonding, Structure, and Resonance
Hybrid Orbitals and Hybridization
Today’s post is all about hybrid orbitals. Here’s a quick summary: [Note: This post was co-authored with Matthew Pierce of Organic Chemistry Solutions. Ask Matt about scheduling
Read moreHow To Determine Hybridization: A Shortcut
A Shortcut For Determining The Hybridization Of An Atom In A Molecule Here’s a shortcut for how to determine the hybridization of an atom in
Read moreOrbital Hybridization And Bond Strengths
How Orbital Hybridization Affects Bond Strengths Understanding the concept of hybrid orbitals (see previous post) lets you make accurate predictions about trends in bond strengths.
Read moreSigma bonds come in six varieties: Pi bonds come in one
You may recall from Gen chem (and no doubt your first week of o-chem as well), that orbitals on carbon come in two flavors: s
Read moreDipole Moments and Dipoles
Dipole Moments After reading this article and doing the quizzes at the bottom, you should be able to Apply electronegativity to identify covalent and polar
Read moreA Key Skill: How to Calculate Formal Charge
How To Calculate Formal Charge To calculate the formal charge of an atom, we start by: evaluating the number of valence electrons (VE) the neutral
Read moreThe Four Intermolecular Forces and How They Affect Boiling Points
Properties like melting and boiling points are a measure of how strong the attractive forces are between individual atoms or molecules. (We call these intermolecular
Read more3 Trends That Affect Boiling Points
Figuring out the order of boiling points is all about understanding trends. The key thing to consider here is that boiling points reflect the strength
Read moreHow To Use Electronegativity To Determine Electron Density (and why NOT to trust formal charge)
How To Determine Partial Charges Last time we talked about how electrons are the “currency” of chemistry and every reaction is a transaction of electrons
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