What are the different types of atomic orbitals?

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Answer 1 · 2015-01-02T21:42:59

There are many types of atomic orbital ( $"s, p, d, f, g, h"$ , …), but only the first four are occupied in the ground state of an atom.

Quantum numbers

Two quantum numbers determine the type of orbital.

The principal quantum number, $n$ , determines the size of the orbital.

The secondary quantum number, $l$ , determines the shape.

$"s"$ orbitals

For each value of $n$ , there is one orbital for which $l = 0$ .

These orbitals are spheres.

The higher the value of $n$ , the larger the sphere.

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The spheres like nested shells separated by nodes — areas where there is no electron density.

$"p"$ orbitals

When $n > 1$ , $l$ can have any value up to $n"-1"$ .

When $l = 1$ , the orbital is called a $"p"$ orbital.

A $"p"$ orbital looks like a dumbbell.

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There are three types of $"p"$ orbital.

Each points in a different direction.

$"d"$ orbitals

When $n = 3$ , we can have orbitals with $l = 2$ .

These are called $"d"$ orbitals, and there are five of them.

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One looks like a dumbbell with a doughnut around the middle.

The other four $"d"$ orbitals look like four-leaf clovers with the leaves pointing in different directions.

$"f"$ orbitals

When $n = 4$ , we can have orbitals with $l = 3$ .

These are called $"f"$ orbitals, and there are seven of them.

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Three of the orbitals look like a dumbbell with two donuts around the middle.

The other four orbitals look like a bundle of eight balloons tied together and pointing to the corners of a cube.