9/7/2014
ALEKS Alex H. Yuan - 09/07/2014 10:56:20 PM EDT - Copyright © 2014 UC Regents and ALEKS Corporation
Alex H. Yuan - 09/07/2014 10:56:20 PM EDT
General Chemistry (First Semester) / Chem 110 FA 2014 – CH110 FA14 S25-36 (Dr.
Barber)
1.
Recognizing s and p orbitals
Here are sketches of four electron orbitals:
A
B
C
D
yes
Are any of them s orbitals?
no
List the s orbitals, if any
yes
Are any of them p orbitals?
no
List the p orbitals, if any
You can solve this problem by recognizing the shapes of
An
a
and
electron orbitals.
orbital has the shape of a sphere. It looks the same from any direction. Here's a sketch of
orbital:
https://secure.aleks.com/alekscgi/x/Isl.exe/1o_u-IgNsIkr7j8P3jH-lJiYsPgPQIfQokR4hWMNIe-wKsFh3XosS7UdbJJbec5v-bErzeXkMW4CvqF-zDdQSH…
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9/7/2014
ALEKS Alex H. Yuan - 09/07/2014 10:56:20 PM EDT - Copyright © 2014 UC Regents and ALEKS Corporation
This sketch also shows the coordinate (
axes.
and
)
You can rotate the sketch to a get a better view of the
orbital by dragging the slider with your mouse.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Note: don't take this sketch literally. It does not tell you what an electron orbiting inside an atom
actually looks like. It's just a mathematical sketch, like the graph of a function, or a pie chart,
meant to give you information about the location of the electron. All this sketch tells you is that
the electron is usually found somewhere inside the space enclosed by the spherical red
surface. (The red color is meaningless: electrons don't have any color in the ordinary sense.)
A
orbital has the shape of a dumbbell, or pair of eggs. The dumbbell can point along the
axis, in which case we call it a
or
orbital, or along the
orbital. Here are sketches of the
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
or
and
3
4
An important fact these sketches tell you about
5
6
7
axis, in which case we call it a
orbitals:
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
orbitals is that they have a node.
A node is a plane in which the probability of finding the electron is exactly zero.
A
has a node in the
plane, meaning there is no chance of finding the electron with an
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9/7/2014
ALEKS Alex H. Yuan - 09/07/2014 10:56:20 PM EDT - Copyright © 2014 UC Regents and ALEKS Corporation
coordinate of zero. Similarly, a
has a node in the
the
plane. Notice that orbitals have no nodes.
plane, and a
orbital has a node in
yes
Are any of them s orbitals?
no
List the s orbitals, if any
yes
Are any of them p orbitals?
no
List the p orbitals, if any
A, C , D
Copyright © 2014 UC Regents and ALEKS Corporation
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