Hybridization means mixture. So carbon hybridization is the mixture of atomic orbitals in carbon.

“When several atomic orbitals are combined to form other orbitals with the same energy and higher stability.”

Carbon has 4 valance electrons (its tetravalent) ****so it can form 4 covalent bonds to obtain an octec.

Methane is the simplest organic substance (hydrocarbon) (CH4)

Carbon wants to form strong bonds to make stable molecules, but the orbitals where the electrons are (the s and p orbitals) arent good at making enough strong and evenly spaced bonds, so hybridization is a “remodeling” of the orbitals, these orbitals make it easier for the atom to bond with others. Hybridization happens so that atoms can make bonds that are:

• Equal in strength
• Spread out evenly (in shapes like tetrahedrons, triangles or lines)
• Stable

There are 3 types of hybridization of carbon:

1. Sp3 hybridization:

In this “mixture of atomic orbitals” Sp3 means that we have 1 s orbital and 3 p orbitals, so there are a total of 4 orbitals (25% S character and 75% P character)

Carbon has 6 electrons and 2 of them are in the 1s orbital, 2 others are in the 2s orbital and the final 2 electrons are located on 2 of the the 2p orbital, 1 in each orbital. (Ground state in the picture)

When carbon becomes exited, 1 of the 2 electrons in the 2s orbital goes to the third p orbital (As you can see in the exited state picture)

• So finally in the hybridized state (the final product) the 2s and 2p orbitals combine together to form 4 hybrid orbitals, each having 1 electron.

• On the right, we have the geometry of an sp3 hybridization, we see that its a tetrahedral SHAPE, it looks like a piramid with a triangular base.