Question

What is the hybridization in \[HCl\]?

Answer 1

Hint: Hybridization is a hypothetical concept adopted to explain geometry and bond properties of polyatomic molecules. This is hydrochloric acid in the aqueous form and hydrogen chloride if it is in gas form.

Complete answer:
Before going to the hybridization of hydrochloric acid, it is important to know the Lewis dot structure of it. In simple words, Lewis dot structure is the distribution of electrons around the atoms which helps us to find out the number and types of bonds in the compound.
Chlorine, being a halogen, needs one electron to complete its octet. Likewise, hydrogen also needs one more electron to attain an octet because hydrogen’s outermost shell can hold upto two electrons. The Lewis dot structure will be:

According to the VSEPR theory, \[HCl\] has linear molecular geometry/shape and tetrahedral electron geometry. The bond angle is ${180^\circ }$. Hydrochloric acid is an $AX{E_3}$ type molecule where,
A= the central atom= chlorine, X= atom bonded to A= hydrogen, E=lone pair on A= $3$
Hydrochloric acid has no hybridization, because \[HCl\] being a linear diatomic molecule, has a hydrogen atom and a chlorine atom bonded covalently. So there is no need for any extra stability.

Note:
Being a diatomic molecule, it only had one atom as a surrounding atom. Thus there can be only one possibility of structure and so extra stability is needed for this molecule. Hybridization of a molecule can be predicted either from the VSEPR theory chart or using the formula:
$H = \dfrac{1}{2}[V + M - C + A]$
Here, H= hybridization, V= number of valence electrons, M= number of monovalent atoms, C= charge of the cation, A= charge of the anion.