Carbon+Quadruple+Bond

this is a response to the quadruple bond question i found on [|this site]. From what i read, carbon triple bonding with itself causes a very rigid electron orbital structure. A fourth would put such extreme tension on the carbon atoms that the bond would tear the atoms apart. The original text is below.

Author: Joe Schultz Text: Going by the way carbon bonds, I would say it cannot form a quadruple bond with itself. Here is why: When carbon bonds, it takes its 2s electrons and 2p electrons and forms a hybrid sp3 orbital. The first C-C bond is the sigma bond (or single bond) and graphically it would be in the plane of this screen. The second and third C-C bonds would be pi bonds. These would be above and below the carbons in the plane of the screen and coming out at you and going away from you. All together they form what we call a triple bond and use 3 of the 4 available hybrid orbitals. The fourth orbital (which would go to your "quadruple" bond) is pointing away from the two carbons in the plane of the screen. In order for those orbitals to overlap (thus forming a bond), the other orbitals would have to bend tremendously. This strain would prohibit the formation of that fourth bond. That bond is so stuck in its place and unbendable that I believe in order to have a cyclic compound with a triple bond you need something like 8 or 9 more atoms to form the ring. Otherwise the strain is just too great.