How many nodal plane 3s orbital has?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Jul 6, 2017

None, because there are no angular nodes in spherical orbitals.

Any #s# orbital has an angular momentum quantum number #l# of #0#. In fact, any #s# orbital, if it has any nodes at all, they are all spherical shell nodes, otherwise known as radial nodes.

The radial nodes are the lighter regions of the orbital probability densities shown below, and are where electrons cannot exist.

![www.cs.uni.edu)

The number of angular nodes are given by #l#. These can be:

  • nodal planes.
  • In the case of the #d_(z^2)# or #f_(z^3)# orbital, conical nodes.

Since #l = 0# for any #s# orbital, there are ZERO nodal planes in the #3s# orbital.

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