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Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: TheManatee on February 13, 2019, 06:56:11 PM

Title: Orbitals for the H atom?
Post by: TheManatee on February 13, 2019, 06:56:11 PM

The question is asking how many orbitals are in the 3p sublevel for the H atom.
I know that the most orbitals 3p can have is 6, but H is configurated as 1s^1. Are there still 6 orbitals in 3p for the H atom?

Title: Re: Orbitals for the H atom?
Post by: Corribus on February 13, 2019, 10:34:16 PM

You seem to be confusing orbitals and the number of electrons that can be put into them.

Title: Re: Orbitals for the H atom?
Post by: Enthalpy on February 14, 2019, 06:56:33 AM

This is a matter of vocabulary. The orbitals are said to exist even when they are unoccupied.

Each orbital can host 2 electrons whose spins are opposite, because electrons are fermions. That is, the three 3p orbitals, described for instance as 3p_x, 3p_y and 3p_z, can host 6 electrons.

Nice pictures of orbitals there
https://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/ and if you click for instance on 3p
https://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/AOs/3p/index.html or on 2p
https://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/AOs/2p/index.html