Talk:Sp² bond

This article could really benefit from a picture and a more lengty explanation. I can hardly understand anything in this article, but as I haven't studied any chemistry or physics since senior high maybe that is to be expected. What do those binding thingies represent for instance?

Honestly? The entire article is misnamed. An sp² 'bond' means any bond involving an sp² orbital. I'm thinking the article would be better named 'sp² hybridization.' In any case, I'm going to start working on this article now. I'm going to backup the old version here as I'll probably be making some major revisions. --EagleFalconn

Old Article Backup

An sp² bond is the electronic configuration of carbon atoms. At ground state this configuration is different to that of its excited state. At ground state, the electronic configuration of carbon is 1s² 2s² 2p_x¹ 2p_y¹.

In the excited state, the electronic configuration of carbon is 1s² 2s¹ 2p_x¹ 2p_y¹ 2p_z¹. However, the carbon atom may not use all its s-orbital and p-orbitals for hybridization. Instead, it may use one s-orbital and two p-orbitals to form three sp² hybrid orbitals.

If the carbon atom undergoes sp² hybridization, three sp² equivalent hybrid orbitals are generated. The hybrid orbitals, each holding one electron, repel one another and take up the shape of a trigonal plane. The angles between the sp² hybrid orbitals are 120 degrees. All the three sp² hybrid orbitals lie on the single plane. The remaining 2p orbital is oriented perpendicular to this plane.

External links

Trigonal Planar configuration

Molecular geometry

Redundant

This article doesn't say anything that's not already in orbital hybridization or chemical bond, and "sp2 bond" is not a common term. Actually, I'd say that the term doesn't make much sense, since the hybridization is based on the atom and not on the bond. What is more common is to say "a bond involving an sp2 atom", or an sp2-sp2 bond, (or sp2-sp3, etc.). I propose deleting this article, maybe leaving a redirect to orbital hybridization. Itub 23:10, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Put merge tags on the two articles to draw attention to your suggestion. --Bduke 23:20, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Done. I've copied over this short conversation to Talk:Orbital hybridisation. Please continue the conversation there to avoid duplication. Itub 00:06, 28 December 2006 (UTC)