2 added 10 characters in body edited Apr 29 '18 at 2:43 Gaurang Tandon 5,44788 gold badges3030 silver badges7070 bronze badges Hybrid orbitals do not exist. Individual atoms have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering atomic orbitals. Molecules have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering molecular orbitals. Hybrid orbitals are just one mathematical way of arriving at molecular orbitals from combining atomic orbitals. They are a pure mathematical fiction and have no physical meaning (this does not mean they aren't useful). Some schools or textbooks teach that in order for a reaction to occur energy is required to 'promote' electrons into hybrid orbitals to create some sort of excited atom prior to bonding. This does not happen in real life and is not a useful way of looking at bonding. What does happen is that as atoms approach each other, their atomic orbitals start to overlap significantly, giving rise to a new set of molecular orbitals (in quantum mechanics you are changing the potential in which the electrons reside and so the allowed energy states change). If the electrons in the new molecular orbitals are lower in energy than in the atomic orbitals then the reaction will proceed. As for the electron distribution of atoms - it is spherically symmetric. The two $$2p$$$$\ce{2p}$$ electrons will reside in different orbitals because this does not require pairing of their spins (which is a higher energy state). However, it is meaningless to ask which $$p$$$$\ce{p}$$ orbital they are in because all three orbitals are degenerate and so are indistinguishable. Hybrid orbitals do not exist. Individual atoms have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering atomic orbitals. Molecules have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering molecular orbitals. Hybrid orbitals are just one mathematical way of arriving at molecular orbitals from combining atomic orbitals. They are a pure mathematical fiction and have no physical meaning (this does not mean they aren't useful). Some schools or textbooks teach that in order for a reaction to occur energy is required to 'promote' electrons into hybrid orbitals to create some sort of excited atom prior to bonding. This does not happen in real life and is not a useful way of looking at bonding. What does happen is that as atoms approach each other, their atomic orbitals start to overlap significantly, giving rise to a new set of molecular orbitals (in quantum mechanics you are changing the potential in which the electrons reside and so the allowed energy states change). If the electrons in the new molecular orbitals are lower in energy than in the atomic orbitals then the reaction will proceed. As for the electron distribution of atoms - it is spherically symmetric. The two $$2p$$ electrons will reside in different orbitals because this does not require pairing of their spins (which is a higher energy state). However, it is meaningless to ask which $$p$$ orbital they are in because all three orbitals are degenerate and so are indistinguishable. Hybrid orbitals do not exist. Individual atoms have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering atomic orbitals. Molecules have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering molecular orbitals. Hybrid orbitals are just one mathematical way of arriving at molecular orbitals from combining atomic orbitals. They are a pure mathematical fiction and have no physical meaning (this does not mean they aren't useful). Some schools or textbooks teach that in order for a reaction to occur energy is required to 'promote' electrons into hybrid orbitals to create some sort of excited atom prior to bonding. This does not happen in real life and is not a useful way of looking at bonding. What does happen is that as atoms approach each other, their atomic orbitals start to overlap significantly, giving rise to a new set of molecular orbitals (in quantum mechanics you are changing the potential in which the electrons reside and so the allowed energy states change). If the electrons in the new molecular orbitals are lower in energy than in the atomic orbitals then the reaction will proceed. As for the electron distribution of atoms - it is spherically symmetric. The two $$\ce{2p}$$ electrons will reside in different orbitals because this does not require pairing of their spins (which is a higher energy state). However, it is meaningless to ask which $$\ce{p}$$ orbital they are in because all three orbitals are degenerate and so are indistinguishable. 1 answered Jul 12 '16 at 18:02 bon 12.7k1010 gold badges4343 silver badges8080 bronze badges Hybrid orbitals do not exist. Individual atoms have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering atomic orbitals. Molecules have electronic configurations which can be explained by considering molecular orbitals. Hybrid orbitals are just one mathematical way of arriving at molecular orbitals from combining atomic orbitals. They are a pure mathematical fiction and have no physical meaning (this does not mean they aren't useful). Some schools or textbooks teach that in order for a reaction to occur energy is required to 'promote' electrons into hybrid orbitals to create some sort of excited atom prior to bonding. This does not happen in real life and is not a useful way of looking at bonding. What does happen is that as atoms approach each other, their atomic orbitals start to overlap significantly, giving rise to a new set of molecular orbitals (in quantum mechanics you are changing the potential in which the electrons reside and so the allowed energy states change). If the electrons in the new molecular orbitals are lower in energy than in the atomic orbitals then the reaction will proceed. As for the electron distribution of atoms - it is spherically symmetric. The two $$2p$$ electrons will reside in different orbitals because this does not require pairing of their spins (which is a higher energy state). However, it is meaningless to ask which $$p$$ orbital they are in because all three orbitals are degenerate and so are indistinguishable.