eng Science and Education Publishing World Journal of Chemical Education 2375-1657 2017-12-28 5 6 203 205 10.12691/wjce-5-6-3 WJCE2017563 article S. M. Blinder sblinder@wolfram.com 1 Wolfram Research Inc., Champaign IL, 61820, USA The structure and bonding of the hydrides of boron, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are described using the concepts of the valence state and hybrid atomic orbitals. The tetrahedral arrangement of orbitals in CH4, NH3 and H2O is explained. A rationalization is proposed for the unique bridged structure of diborane B2H6. http://pubs.sciepub.com/wjce/5/6/3/wjce-5-6-3.pdf hydrides valence state hybrid atomic orbitals methane ammonia water molecule boron hydrides