Chemistry101

Chapter7

ATOMICORBITALS
Atomicorbitalsareregionsinspacewheretheelectronismostlikelytobefound.
AtomicOrbitalsareof4typesthatdifferin:
theirshape
thenumberoforbitalsthatgrouptogether
theirenergy
I.sOrbitalsarethesimplestorbitals
Theshapeofansorbitalisspherical.
Ansorbital occursalone(thereisonlyonesorbitalinanyparticularenergylevel)

regionswheretheelectrons
aremostlikelytobefound

1s2s1s

onesorbitalinthefirstenergylevel

onesorbitalinthefirstenergylevel
and
onesorbitalinthesecondenergylevel

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Chemistry101

Chapter7

II.porbitals
Theshapeofaporbitalislikeadumbbell
(twolobesarrangedalongastraightlinewiththenucleusbetweenthelobes)

nucleus
porbitalsoccuringroupofthreesetatrightanglestoeachother
(therearethreeporbitalsinanyparticularenergylevel)

III.dorbitals
Theseorbtalshavecomplexshapes
They occuringroupoffive(thereare
fivedorbitalsinanyparticularenergy
level)

IV.forbitals
Theseorbitalshavecomplexshapes
They occuringroupofseven(therearesevenforbitalsinanyparticularenergylevel)

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Chemistry101

Chapter7

IMPORTANTPOINTSTOREMEMBERABOUTORBITALS:
1. Theenergyofthedifferenttypesoforbitalsincreasesinthefollowingorder

spdf
Energyincreases
Rememberthetypeoforbitalsinincreasingenergyorder:
SomePeopleDontForget

2. Orbitalsoccurinaspecificnumberinagroup:
ORBITALS

OCCURINGROUPOF

1(alone)

3. Severalorbitalsofthesametypeform(constitute)anEnergy Sublevel(sometimescalleda
Subshell)
Thereareseveraltypesofsublevels,dependingonthetypesof orbitalstheycontain:
an
a
a
an

ssublevel
psublevel
dsublevel
fsublevel

contains:
contains:
contains:
contains:

onesorbital
threeporbitals
fivedorbitals
sevenforbital

4. Severalsublevelswithclosevaluesofenergyform(constitute)anEnergyLevel (sometimes
calledanElectronShell)
1st EnergyLevelcontains:
2nd EnergyLevelcontains:
3rd EnergyLevelcontains:
4th EnergyLevelcontains:
5th EnergyLevelcontains

onesublevel : 1s
twosublevels : 2s
threesublevels: 3s
four sublevels: 4s
fivesublevels: 5s

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2p
3p
4p
5p

3d
4d
5d

4f
5f,

5g

Chemistry101

Chapter7

TheStructureoftheEnergyLevels

4f
4d 4th EnergyLevel(n=4)
4p
3d
4s
3rd EnergyLevel(n=3)

3p
3s
2p

2nd EnergyLevel(n=2)
2s

1st EnergyLevel(n=1)

1s

Note: Energyvaluesincreasewithincreasingvaluesofn.
Asnincreases:
thespacingbetweensuccessivelevelsdecreases
thestructureoftheenergylevelsbecomesmorecomplex
Result:Fromthe3rd EnergyLevel,thesublevelsstartto overlap:
4sislowerthan 3d
5sislowerthan 4d
6sislowerthan 5d

6sislowerthan 4f
7sislowerthan 5f

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Chemistry101

Chapter7

QUANTUMNUMBERSANDATOMICORBITALS
Eachorbitalisdescribedby3quantumnumbers:
1. PRINCIPALQUANTUMNUMBER(n)
IdentifiestheEnergyLevelinwhichtheorbitalisfound
ncanhaveonlypositivevalues n=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,..
o thesmallernis,thelowertheenergy
nalsodeterminestheSizeoftheOrbital:
Forexample:
Anorbitalina3rd energylevel(n=3)islargerthanan orbitalinthe2nd energylevel(n=2)
Anorbitalinthesecondenergylevelislargerthananorbitalinthefirstenergylevel(n=1)
EnergyLevelsaresometimesalsoreferredtoasElectronShellsanddesignatedbyletters
(startingfromK,inalphabeticalorder)

Energylevel(n):1

2 3 4 5 6
Energyincreases

ElectronShell:

M N

TheFirstEnergyLevel(n=1)isalsoreferredtoasthe Kshell
TheSecondEnergyLevel(n=2)isalsoreferredtoastheLshell,andsoon.
2. SECONDARYQUANTUMNUMBER(l)
AlsocalledAngularmomentumQuantumNumberorAzimuthal QuantumNumber
ldistinguishesorbitalsofdifferentshapes
lidentifiesdifferentsublevels(alsoreferredtoassubshells)
Foragivenn(aspecificenergylevel):lcanhavethefollowingvalues:0,1,2,3,..(n1)
Forexample:
For n=1 (1st energylevel)
l=0(onlyonetypeoforbitalshapeexistswhichisspherical)
(identifiesthe1ssublevel)
For n=2 (2nd energylevel)
l=0:onesphericalorbitalisidentified(2ssublevel)
l=1:threedumbbellorbitalareidentified(2psublevel)
Note:lcannotbe2,sinceitslargestvalueis(n1),whichis1

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Chemistry101

Chapter7

Sublevels(subshells)arecommonlydesignatedbyLetters:

EnergySublevel(l):

ElectronSubshell:

0 1 2
Energyincreases

Itfollows:
1st EnergyLevel

(n=1) l=0

An1ssublevel

1sublevel

2nd EnergyLevel

(n=2) l =0
l=1

A2ssublevel
A2psublevel

2sublevels

(n=3) l=0
l=1
l=2

A3ssublevel
A3psublevel
A3dsublevel

(n=4) l=0
l=1
l=2
l=3

A4ssublevel
A4psublevel
A4dsublevel
A4fsublevel

(n=5) l=0
l=1
l=2
l=3
l=4

A5ssublevel
A5psublevel
A5dsublevel
A5fsublevel
A5gsublevel

3rd EnergyLevel

4th EnergyLevel

5th EnergyLevel

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3sublevels

4sublevels

5sublevels

Chemistry101

Chapter7

3. MAGNETICQUANTUMNUMBER(ml)
Indicatestheorientationinspaceofdifferentorbitalsthatbelong
tothesameenergysublevel(samel),and
tothesameenergylevel(samen)
Theallowedvaluesformlareintegersrangingfrom lto+l
Forexample:
For l=0
(ssubshell)
Thereisonlyoneorbitalinthessubshell

ml=0

For

ml = -1
ml =0
ml =+1

l=1

(psubshell)

Therearethreeorbitalsinthepsubshell

y
ml =+1

ml =-1
p

ml =0

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Chemistry101

n
Principal
Quantum#
1

Chapter7

l
Secondary
Quantum#
0

ml
Magnetic
Quantum#
0

#ofOrbitalsin #ofOrbitalsin
Sublevel
EnergyLevel

1s

2s

1
0
+1

2p

3s

3p

1
3
2

0
1

2
4

Subshell
Notation

1
0
+1
2
1
0
+1
+2
0

1
0
+1
2
1
0
+1
+2
3
2
1
0
+1
+2
+3

3d

4s

4p

4d

5
16

4f

n2 orbitals

nsubshells

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Chemistry101

Chapter7

ASSIGNINGQUANTUMNUMBERS

4f
4d
4p
3d
4s
3p

n=3l=2ml =+1

3s
2p
2s
n=2l=1ml =0

n=2l=0ml =0
1s
Examples:
1. Ifthenquantumnumberofanatomicorbitalis4,whatarethepossiblevaluesofl?

2. Givethenotation(usingletterdesignationsforl)forthesubshellsdenotedbythefollowing
quantumnumbers:

n=6l=2

n=5l=0

n=4

n=6l=1

l=3

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