What are the hybrid orbitals of CO2?

I have a test tomorrow and I have to make a sketch showing the overlap of orbitals. What's that mean?

• Let's say I have CO2.. Make a sketch showing overlap of orbitals. and A) Lewis Structure. Okay that's easy B) # of Valence E's-Okay easy C) Hybridization of the central atom.-What does that mean?? D) Bond Angles = How do you figure this out?

• Answer:

  CO2 is a simple molecule. You know how to do the Lewis Structure and how to figure out the number of valence electrons. Now all that's left is figuring out bonding pairs of electrons between the atoms and non-bonding pairs (lone pairs). Lone electrons = (Total v.e) - (Outer atoms v.e) = 16 - 16 = 0 lone electrons, so 0 lone pairs. Number of paired electrons = (filled valence shells of all atoms) - (total v.e) = 24 - 16 = 8, divided by 2 is 4 pairs. So there are 4 bonds between the 2 oxygen atoms and the carbon. So the molecule looks like this: O=C=O. The number of electron pairs indicates electron and molecular geometry. There are 2 pairs (each double bond counts as one), so the molecular geometry is linear. This means 180 degree bond angles, and because there are two atoms bonded to the carbon, the hybridization of the carbon atom is sp. Hope this makes sense haha :D =