Linus Pauling Explains Valence Bond Theory
Me: Linus Pauling, is that you calling?
Pauling: Yes Dr. Iverson, it is me, Linus Pauling. I see you are terrorizing your students with molecular orbital theory, in which all the atomic orbital wave functions in the molecule are simply added together to derive molecular orbitals that extend over the entire molecule. For sigma bonds, this is great if you are a computer because it is just math, but it does NOT help me understand chemical bonding at all…. I know, what if we put parentheses around the valence atomic orbital wave functions on each atom first, before we look for overlap, and let’s call that “hybridization”. Like if we add the 2s and three 2p orbital wave functions of a Carbon together, we will call it sp3 hybridization. In that way, the four valence atomic orbital wave functions on each sp3 hybridized carbon atom will combine to make 4 of what I will call hybrid orbitals. The overlap of these hybrid orbitals on adjacent atoms can be thought of as sigma bonds. This is bloody brilliant. Let’s call it valence bond theory! I should get a Nobel prize for this…oh wait…I did in 1954. I am a genius!!!
Me: I can see you are humble too.
Pauling: Peace out from here
