Question

Which orbitals overlap to form the sigma bond between the sulfur and fluorine atoms in the molecule SF4?

Answer 1

In sulfur tetrafluoride, the central atom is  

s

p

3

d

hybridized.

Explanation:

To determine the orbital hybridization of the sulfur atom, which is the central atom in sulfur tetrafluoride, start by darawing the molecule's Lewis structure.

The molecule will have a total of 34 valence electrons, 6 from sulfur, and 7 from each of the four fluorine atoms.

The sulfur atom will form single bonds with each of fluorine atoms. These bonds will account for 8 of the 34 valence electrons. Each fluorine atom will have 3 lone pairs of electrons in order to have a complete octet.

These lone pairs will use up 24 valence electrons, bringing the total of used valence electrons to 32. The remaining two electrons will be placed on the sulfur atom as a lone pair.

The steric number will give you the number of hybrid orbitals that the atom uses. In this case, sulfur will use five hybrid orbitals formed from

three 3s-orbital;

three 3p-orbitals;

one 3d-orbital

The central atom will thus be  

SP3D hybridized.