S orbital

Dear student,

All s orbitals are spherical in shape and have spherical symmetry. This means that the wave function will depend only on the distance from the nucleus and not on the direction.

In any atom, the size of the s orbital increases as the principal quantum number of the orbital increases but the geometry remains spherical. The electron density also tends to extend further. Other orbitals behave in the same way as the principal quantum numbers of the orbitals increase.

Orbitals with subshell quantum number l = 1 are called p orbitals. Since the magnetic quantum number m can be -1, 0, or +1 when the value of the subshell quantum number l is one, p orbitals come in sets of three. In each set, one of the orbitals is aligned along each of the three mutually perpendicular axes of the atom; these axes are traditionally designated x, y, and z. The three 2p orbitals are correspondingly designated 2p_x, 2p_y, and 2p_z. The p orbitals either as a set or individually do not have spherical symmetry and so a simple plot of radial probability density cannot be made for them. If, however, the distance from the nucleus is taken along any one of the three axes and the orbital is that along the same axis, then a suitable plot can be made.

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All the best.

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