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So this rule is known about hybridization that: if 4 groups (atoms/pairs of electrons) are attached to the atom -> sp3 if 3 -> sp2 if 2 -> sp

but isn't that true only to specific elements only like carbon/oxygen/nitrogen..?

If you take CCl4, C is sp3, but chlorine has 4 groups around it but it's still not sp3 nor hybridized, it's just an sp3-p bond.

Even for nitrogen like in pyrrole, nirogen has 4 groups around it but it's sp2 because of resonance.

but can someone make it clear? to which elements does that rule apply? what elements undergo hybridization? what elements can they ask about in college regarding that?

Thank you

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    $\begingroup$ It basically works for carbon. Even O and N have a number of exceptions. $\endgroup$
    – orthocresol
    Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 11:55
  • $\begingroup$ This rule is valid for atoms which are in the center of a molecule like Carbon in $\ce{CCl4}$ , and not for outer atoms like here Chlorine in $\ce{CCl4}$. $\endgroup$
    – Maurice
    Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 14:46
  • $\begingroup$ what should i do about outer atoms? i mean nitrogen can be outer atom or chlorine... for instance in H-CN, it's S-SP-SP $\endgroup$
    – Stormin nn
    Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 21:59
  • $\begingroup$ In the case of HCN, well, H is the easy one; it has nothing to hybridise. C follows the standard rules. In this case, N behaves much like C. It needs to form two π bonds, which means that it needs to have two p orbitals; that's only possible if it is sp-hybridised. The rule works here, but you already know there are a number of exceptions, mainly because of resonance effects. For things like halogens, I'd suggest to throw this out of the window, as whatever it predicts can be refuted by more sophisticated theories (see e.g. chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/76954/16683). $\endgroup$
    – orthocresol
    Commented Dec 2, 2020 at 1:11

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