Question

How do we describe the hybridization in the carbon dioxide molecule?

Answer 1

The bonds in carbon dioxide, `CO_2`, may be considered purely covalent.

Explanation:

In terms of a valence bond description the carbon is `sp` hybridized, and the oxygen atoms are each `sp^2` hybridized. (It would be very worthwhile should you try to take the total number of valence electrons, `6 + 4 + 6`, and assign these 16 `e` to particular atoms.