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In a tetrahedral molecular geometry, a central atom is located at the center with four substituents that are located at the corners of a tetrahedron.The bond angles are arccos(− 1 / 3 ) = 109.4712206...° ≈ 109.5° when all four substituents are the same, as in methane (CH 4) [1] [2] as well as its heavier analogues.
Methane is a tetrahedral molecule with four equivalent C–H bonds. Its electronic structure is described by four bonding molecular orbitals (MOs) resulting from the overlap of the valence orbitals on C and H .
The tetrahedron shape is seen in nature in covalently bonded molecules. All sp 3-hybridized atoms are surrounded by atoms (or lone electron pairs) at the four corners of a tetrahedron. For instance in a methane molecule (CH 4) or an ammonium ion (NH + 4), four hydrogen atoms surround a central carbon or nitrogen atom with tetrahedral symmetry.
This shape is found when there are four bonds all on one central atom, with no extra unshared electron pairs. In accordance with the VSEPR (valence-shell electron pair repulsion theory), the bond angles between the electron bonds are arccos(− 1 / 3 ) = 109.47°. For example, methane (CH 4) is a tetrahedral molecule.
The tetrahedral structure of methane. An alkane has only C–H and C–C single bonds. The former result from the overlap of an sp 3 orbital of carbon with the 1s orbital of a hydrogen; the latter by the overlap of two sp 3 orbitals on adjacent carbon atoms.
Molecular models may be created for several reasons – as pedagogic tools for students or those unfamiliar with atomistic structures; as objects to generate or test theories (e.g., the structure of DNA); as analogue computers (e.g., for measuring distances and angles in flexible systems); or as aesthetically pleasing objects on the boundary of ...
In that framework, atomic orbitals are allowed to mix to produce an equivalent number of orbitals of differing shapes and energies. In the aforementioned case of methane, the 2s and three 2p orbitals of carbon are hybridized to yield four equivalent sp 3 orbitals, which resolves the structure discrepancy. Orbital hybridisation allowed valence ...
Hofmann's 1865 ball-and-stick model of methane (CH 4). Later discoveries disproved this geometry. In 1865, German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann was the first to make ball-and-stick molecular models. He used such models in lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Specialist companies manufacture kits and models to order.