In the crystal field model, ligands are treated as infinitesimally small (negative) point charges (represented by white spheres in the figures below). The orientation of each of the five unhybridized d orbitals in a square planar geometry is shown below. Note that only the total electron density is shown for each orbital, i.e., the phases for each orbital are not shown.
| dxy
x-axis = yellow Note that the electron density lies in the x-y plane, but in between the point charges (i.e., the lobes of the orbital do not point directly at any of the point charges).
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| dxz
x-axis = yellow Note that the electron density lies above and below the x-y plane (i.e., the lobes of the orbital do not point directly at any of the point charges).
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| dyz
x-axis = yellow Note that the electron density lies above and below the x-y plane (i.e., the lobes of the orbital do not point directly at any of the point charges).
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| dx2-y2
x-axis = yellow Note that the electron density lies in the x-y plane, and directly in line with the point charges (i.e., the lobes of the orbital point directly at the point charges).
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| dz2
x-axis = yellow Note that the electron density is distributed in the x-y plane, and above and below the x-y plane (i.e., the lobes of the orbital do not point directly at any of the point charges).
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