Student contest

One of our winning entries....

American Hy (for hybrid)

Daniel Kohn
Evanston Township High School, Evanston, IL

I chose to write this song to try and illustrate the concept of hybridized orbitals (a very complex subject) in a memorable way.

American Hy
(tune: "American Pie" by Don McLean 1972)

A long, long time go, I can still remember,
How those atoms used to make me smile.
And I Know that if i had a chance,
I could make those 'lectrons dance.
And maybe they'd be hybrid for a while.

Two hydrogens and an oxygen make water,
Its got two shared and two unshared, yet broader,
The shape of the molecule is bent,
Here's information I'll present.

I can't remember it being free,
Of the clutches of you and me
(the configuration's sp3).
The day it hybridized.

Chorus:
So try, try, to become hybridized,
The orbitals get crossed over,
So the bonding's simplified.
An s and some p's turn into sp's,
Sp1, sp2, sp3,
Sp1, sp2, sp3.

The next molecule I'm gonna use,
Makes use of bonds that are sp2,
Symbolized C2H4.

At the carbon, there's a double bond of sorts,
Made of an sp2 and a p of course,
Keepin' the two C's t'gether's what it's used for.

The molecule's name is Ethylene,
There are sp2's bonding to each hydrogen,
The three bonds of sp2,
Form a trigonal planar it's true.

Yeah, it's used to make antifreeze,
And the outer wrap for Cheddar cheese,
If inhaled it'll make ya wheeze.
The day it hybridized.

Chorus x2