Which molecule has a central atom that uses the set of hybrid orbitals shown below to form bonds with the non-central atoms?

ICl2-
NO2-
CO2
H2O

Question

Which molecule has a central atom that uses the set of hybrid orbitals shown below to form bonds with the non-central atoms?

	ICl2-
	NO2-
	CO2
	H2O

anonymous · Answer

@aaronq

anonymous · Answer

thank you for popping in :) I don't even know what type of hybrid orbitals it is showing..

aaronq · Answer

no problem! but yeah, i'm not sure either.. it looks like it would be flat $sp^2$ type of molecule, but the orbitals look like there needs to be 3 atoms bound to the central atom. And none of the molecules listed have 4 atoms..

anonymous · Answer

could the molecule in question have an extra lone pair? would that make it work?

anonymous · Answer

^idk if that makes sense haha...im so bad at this

aaronq · Answer

haha it makes sense. that certainly probable since all these central atoms need 8 electrons (except iodine which can have more).

So it's definitely not $CO_2$ nor $H_2O$..i think it's $NO_2^-$ because $ICl_2^-$ has orbitals like that but they're occupied with non-bonding electrons.

anonymous · Answer

yea, that looks like it might be right. That was my last question :) thank you so much for all your help today :) you are awesome!!!

aaronq · Answer

haha thanks! and you're very welcome