TOJC
carol krancich (carolkrancich@msn.com)
Tue, 17 Sep 96 03:29:19 UT
Someone asked about problem 1.5 on page 28. At first glance, it would appear
that the carbon atom in its excited state as shown would be okay for a methane
molecule. There are four half-filled orbitals, right? But notice the 2s and
the 2p orbitals are not the same energy level, so they have to hybridize to
form sp3 orbitals in order to glom onto those hydrogen atoms.
There were a couple of questions about how to know in which direction a
molecule should be pointing. Remember, these are three dimensional critters.
It doesn't matter if they are pointing right side up, upside down, left or
right, as long as the atoms are in the correct position within the molecule.
Also about dipole moments, page 61. The table shows the dipole moment for a
few compounds. Even if you can't find a chart with the numerical values for a
dipole moment, you can at least find the direction of a dipole just by looking
at the periodic table.
By the way, any suggestions for some kind of systematic approach to finding
all the structural isomers for a given molecular formula? Help me before I go
koo-koo! Thanks in advance. -CK