The Orbitals

s orbital

p orbital

Figure 3.10 Dot Density Diagrams for s and p orbitals Electron density relates to how much of an electron's charge is packed into a given volume. In dense places on the dot-diagram, there is a high concentration of electrical charge. An s orbital's shape is spherical, but the p orbital's shape is quite different. They have two lobes extending out into three dimensional spaces. Since there are 3 p orbitals per energy level, the lobes extend out along the x-axis (px orbital), the y-axis (py orbital), and the z-axis (pz orbital). See Figure 3.12 below.

px orbital

py orbital

pz orbital

Figure 3.11 Diagram of p-orbitals The d orbital's shapes are even more complex because there are 5 orbitals in a d subshell. Four of the five d orbitals (dxy, dxz, dyz, and dx2-y2) have four lobes extending out perpendicular to each other. The last one, dz2, has two lobes extending out along the z-axis with a torus (doughnut-shaped ring) around the center on the x-y plane.

d orbitals

dxy orbital

dxz orbital

dyz orbital

dx2y2 orbital

dz2 orbital

Figure of 3.12- Diagram of d-orbitals f-orbitals (l=3)

[ml = 0][ml = +1]

[ml=+2]

[ml= +3] Figure 3.13 Diagram of f-orbitals The different f-orbitals are shown with their representation in general and x y-plane projections.