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Atomic Orbitals

What Is An Atomic Orbital?

The 1s, 2s and 3s Orbitals

The 2p and 3p Orbitals

The 3d Orbitals

Hybrid Orbitals

What Is A Hybrid Orbital?

The sp, sp2 and sp3 Hybrid Orbitals

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The 3d Orbitals

 

Note that

bulletdue to the size of the orbital files, it may take several seconds for the orbitals to appear,
bulletonly the total electron density is shown for each orbital (i.e., the phases for each orbital are not shown), and
bulletwhen a d orbital is depicted in a textbook, the shape of the orbital is often exaggerated
(elongated) to illustrate the directionality of the orbital along a particular axis, or within a
particular plane.

 

x-axis = yellow    y-axis = green    z-axis = blue
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3dxy

expanded view		 3dxz

expanded view		 3dyz

expanded view
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3dx2-y2

expanded view		 3dz2

expanded view
 

Note that the total electron density

bulletfor the 3dxy orbital lies in the plane defined by the x and y axes, and between the x and y axes,
bulletfor the 3dxz orbital lies in the plane defined by the x and z axes, and between the x and z axes,
bulletfor the 3dyz orbital lies in the plane defined by the y and z axes, and between the y and z axes,
bulletfor the 3dx2-y2 orbital lies in the plane defined by the x and y axes, and directly along the x and y axes, and
bulletfor the 3dz2 orbital lies directly along the z axis.