Question

Describe the shapes and relative energies of the s, p, d, and f atomic orbitals. (3 points) Be sure you address both the shapes of each atomic orbital and the relative energy for each orbital. Be sure to use ACE format to answer this question. This type of problem came from unit 3.

Answer 1

According to the subshells, the ns subshell has a sphere-like shape, and on average, lower energy than the rest of the subshells on the same quantum level

The np subshell has two lobes opposite the origin, and on average has more energy than a ns subshell since it has one more angular node, and thus np electrons are less core-like (and further away from the nucleus).

n d orbitals have five spatial orientations:

and n f orbitals have seven spatial orientations

The energies are on average in increasing order for the same energy level , n as follows,

nS < nP < nD < nF