hybridized in order for it to bond to other atoms?

kathyt.25

Does an atom ALWAYS need to be hybridized in order for it to bond to other atoms?

Why or why not? In what cases does it need to be hybridized in order to bond with other atoms?

Wax

What does hybridize mean?

queenofbabes

It is essential to note (as I had done in my post in your other thread) that hybridisation is a theory people came up with to explain bond geometry, because it did not reconcile with what they knew about s and p orbitals.

For example, in CH4 they might expect the bonds to be perpendicular to each other, since we know the p orbitals are. But it turns out that they're 109.5 degrees apart. So they invented hybridisation to explain it. At this point of time nobody really knew why, but the theory was at least consistent with experimental findings.

(btw, I'm not some expert in this area, I merely quote what my lecturer had said)

So the simple answer to your question is no.