Molecular Geometry 3D Viewer
Select a VSEPR geometry to see a 3D perspective rendering with bond angles, lone pairs, and atom labels. Drag to rotate the molecule and compare all 10 common geometries side by side.
TetrahedralAX₄
Bond angles: 109.5°
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Tetrahedral
AX₄ — Bonding: 4, Lone Pairs: 0
Bond Angles: 109.5°
Tetrahedral
Four bonding pairs arranged at the vertices of a tetrahedron. The most common geometry for sp³ hybridized atoms.
VSEPR Notation
AX₄
Bond Angles
109.5°
Bonding Pairs
4
Lone Pairs
0
Example Molecules
| Geometry | VSEPR | Bond Angles | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linear | AX₂ or AX₂E₃ | 180° | CO₂ |
| Bent | AX₂E₂ | 104.5° | H₂O |
| Trigonal Planar | AX₃ | 120° | BF₃ |
| Trigonal Pyramidal | AX₃E | 107° | NH₃ |
| Tetrahedral | AX₄ | 109.5° | CH₄ |
| T-shaped | AX₃E₂ | 90°, 180° | ClF₃ |
| See-saw | AX₄E | 90°, 120°, 180° | SF₄ |
| Square Planar | AX₄E₂ | 90° | XeF₄ |
| Trigonal Bipyramidal | AX₅ | 90°, 120° | PCl₅ |
| Octahedral | AX₆ | 90° | SF₆ |
Reference Guide
VSEPR Theory
Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory predicts the 3D shape of a molecule by minimizing repulsion between electron groups around the central atom. Both bonding pairs and lone pairs count as electron groups.
The notation AXnEm describes the geometry: A is the central atom, X are bonding pairs (n of them), and E are lone pairs (m of them). The total n+m determines the parent geometry.
Electron Group Repulsion Order
Lone pair-lone pair > lone pair-bond > bond-bond
Molecular Geometries
Bond Angles
Ideal bond angles come from maximizing separation of electron groups. Lone pairs take up slightly more space than bonding pairs, so they compress the bond angles between bonding atoms.
Each lone pair added to a tetrahedral parent decreases the bond angle by about 2.5°.
Lone Pair Effects
Lone pairs are non-bonding electron pairs that remain on the central atom. They are not "seen" in the molecular geometry name, but they determine the actual shape.
In expanded octets (Period 3+ elements), lone pairs occupy equatorial positions in trigonal bipyramidal arrangements because they have more space there (three 120° neighbors vs two 90° neighbors in axial positions).
Lone pair position preference
In trigonal bipyramidal parents, lone pairs prefer equatorial positions to minimize stronger 90° lone pair-bond repulsions.