Hybridised Orbitals: Understand Probability & Quantum Physics

[Harmony]

From high school chemistry I learned that orbital is the region where probability of finding an electron is high. (Probability, since electron has no well defined location.) Different types of orbitals have different shape of region.
I also learned that different orbitals of the same shell may undergo hybridisation, becoming hybridised orbitals which have different shape of region.
Why does the region of the hybridised orbitals different from the original orbitals? Is it related to Uncertainity in Quantum Physics?

 

[DrClaude]

Hybridized orbitals are simply linear combinations of atomic orbitals. One can see it simply as a mathematical procedure where the overall distribution obtained before hybridization is the same as after hybridization, only split up differently.

One could also consider it as the electron in an hybridized orbital as being in a superposition of non-hybridized orbitals and the difference in shape is due to the interference between the superposed orbitals.

Overall, I think one should not put too much physical reality behind hybridization and treat it more like a useful tool to help predicting the electron distribution in multi-electron atoms, which is useful to understand chemical bonding and the geometry of molecules.