# Electron orbital filling order [closed]

In the p sub shell there are 3 orbitals, m=-1, m=0, m=1 which are listed by axis x,y, and z. Some show as -1=x,0=y,1=z Another shows -1=x,0=z,1=y Some pictures and text also show the filling order as ‘xyz’ and others state that the z axis is filled first m=0 and then the x axis as m=-1 making the filling order z,x,y

What is the correct filling order? If I know this then I can figure out the d and f sub shells. d~m=-2,-1,0,1,2 F-m=-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3 Thanks, HJS

• Your question makes no sense - orbitals don't have "direction" or "number" written on them. – Mithoron Feb 10 '18 at 22:42
• @Mithoron Well, they sure don't have anything written on them per se, but they do have different orientations in space, don't they? For example, the three p orbitals have different orientation along the $x,y,z$ axes. – Gaurang Tandon Feb 11 '18 at 11:38
• @GaurangTandon technically no. We can define a set of axes around a molecule and then write the wavefunction of the p-orbitals in such a way where it lines up with those axes, but this is more about how we choose to define our basis of states than something intrinsic about the orbitals. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_orbital#Real_orbitals – Tyberius Feb 12 '18 at 4:35
• @Tyberius You mean to say that if we remove the coordinate axes then all the orbitals are symmetric with each other. Alright, I get it! BUT how does this explain $d_{z^2}$ as compared to the other $d$ oribtals? Surely the former is not at all symmetric with the others even if we remove the coordinate axes... – Gaurang Tandon Feb 12 '18 at 4:38