What is the bond angle in methylene?

Answer 1

Imagine that you create the tetrahedron by joining opposite vertices on the faces of a cube as in the diagram below. To simplify the arithmetic assume that the cube has sides of length 2.

Let O be the point at the center of the cube (equidistant from the eight vertices) as in the diagram below. Construct the triangle OPQ.

Consider the triangle OPQ. Let R be the midpoint of PQ.

Since the sided of the cube are of length 2, a use of Pythagoras' Theorem gives |PQ| = . Also, since O is at the center of the cube, |OR| = 1. From the diagram the tangent of the angle ROP is . Thusangle QOP = 2 x angle ROP = 2 x arctan() = 109.5o

Answer 2

The central atom of a methane molecule is the carbon atom. Four hydrogen atoms are directly bonded to it and there is no lone pairs located in the central atom. Having a tetrahedral shape, every bond angle in methane is equal to 109.5 degrees.

Answer 3

The bond angle in methylene (CH2) is approximately 120 degrees, which is close to the ideal sp2 hybridization angle. This angle allows for maximum separation between the hydrogen atoms, minimizing repulsive interactions.

Answer 4

The bond angle of singlet methylene is 120°. This is because it has a steric number of 3 and no lone electron pairs, and thus its molecular geometry is trigonal planar.

Answer 5

arccos(-1/3), which is approximately 109.5 degrees

Answer 6

Methane has a tetrahedral geometry. Thus, the bond angles in methane are all equal to 109o.

Answer 7

since the lewis dot structure of this compound is a tetrahedral (around the C atom that is) and all four electron pairs are bonding pairs, the ideal angles should be 109.5 degrees