Question

Do electron clouds overlap when hybridization occurs?

Answer 1

First of all, electron clouds CAN overlap, and they must, to form chemical bonds in the first place!

The attraction of nucleus `A` to the electrons in atom `B` balance out with the repulsion of the two negatively-charged electron clouds and of the two positively-charged nuclei when bonds form at the potential energy minimum.


And so, they must be able to overlap to form hybridized atomic orbitals in a linear combination.

Take the `sp^3` for example:

`Psi_(sp^3) = c_1psi_(s) + c_2psi_(p_x) + c_3psi_(p_y) + c_4psi_(p_z)`

where each wave function `psi` represents a given pure atomic orbital, with weighted contributions given by `c_i`. As a result, `Psi_(sp^3)` represents the `sp^3`-hybridized orbital.

All that the above equation says is that hybridized orbitals form by the overlap of pure atomic orbitals.

![http://www.mhhe.com/]()

They achieve an intermediate energy between the original orbitals, so that all the hybridized orbitals are:

• the same energy
• the same look/symmetry

So, in `"CH"_4`, carbon would hybridize its `2s` and `2p_(x//y//z)` as follows:

This then allows the orbitals to align themselves along the internuclear axes, and bond by head-on overlap (meaning, `sigma` overlap) with outer atoms.

You can see more info on this here.