Let us start with the simplest structure, that seen with 2 things.
An easy example is CO2.
In this case we have two things (actually the electrons in the two
bonds) that are repelling each other. They are stuck together in the
sense that each bond has one end attached to the carbon, but even with
that restriction, they can still avoid each other.
Imagine for a moment
that your hands hated each other. They could not avoid each other
completely, both being attached to your torso at the shoulders, but they
would get as far from each other as possible, leaving you walking
around with your arms out straight like this
In the same way, the bonds to the oxygen atoms will get as far from each other as possible, thus:
This structure is given the painfully obvious name, linear. The angle, obviously, is 180o. The shape of CO2 is the same, linear.
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