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Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: milkteaking on January 16, 2006, 08:26:48 AM

Title: For each, what do s and p represent?
Post by: milkteaking on January 16, 2006, 08:26:48 AM

Yeah, what do they mean?

Title: Re:For each, what do s and p represent?
Post by: Yggdrasil on January 16, 2006, 01:44:33 PM

The orbital designations are artifacts of the spectroscopic techniques used to discover the structure of atomic orbitals.  They stand for categories of spectral lines: sharp. principal, diffuse, and fundamental.  The names have no relevance to the structure of the atom beyond their historical significance.