Triangular planar molecular shape

In any molecule in which there are no nonbonding pairs around the central atom, the molecular shape is the same as the molecular geometry. Thus, to use the examples from Table 6.2, all three two-substituent molecules have both a linear geometry and a linear shape. Both BH3 and H2CO have a triangular planar shape, CH4 has a tetrahedral shape, PF5 a triangular bipyramidal shape, and SF6 a square bipyramidal shape. 

The VSEPR theory has its roots in the observation prior to 1940 that isoelectronic molecules or polyatomic ions usually adopt the same shape. Thus BF3, B03 C03, COF2 and NO3 are ail isoelectronic, and they all have planar triangular structures. As developed in more recent years, the VSEPR theory rationalises molecular shapes in terms of repulsions between electron pairs, bonding and nonbonding. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the rudiments of the theory excellent expositions are to be found in most inorganic texts. 

In an atom, the hybridization of s and p orbitals to form sp orbitals provides electron probability areas where bonds can form to make a molecule more stable than if the bonding had occurred in the individual s and p orbitals. The sp orbitals have one large lobe and one small lobe and are aligned along x, y, and z coordinates so that four sp orbitals, called sp3 orbitals because they are made of one s and three p orbitals, result in a tetrahedral-shaped arrangement. When there are three sp orbitals, made of one s and two p orbitals, called sp orbitals, the molecular has a triangular-planar shape. If there is bonding in two sp orbitals, made of one s and one p orbital, a linear molecule results. 

Water is known to have the geometric shape known as bent or V-shaped. Carbon dioxide exhibits a linear shape. BF3 forms a third molecular shape called trigonal planar since all the atoms lie in one plane in a triangular arrangement. One of the more common molecular shapes is the tetrahedron, illustrated by the molecule methane (CH4). 

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