5
votes
Why do different orbitals have different shapes?
The simplest answer is, of course, that this is what solving the equations produces, which is not that helpful.
When the Schroedinger eqn. for the H atom is solved instead of using $x,y,z$ coordinates ...
4
votes
Accepted
Why do different orbitals have different shapes?
The Schrödinger equation
You might be familiar with the following (magic) equation:
$$
\hat{H}\mathrm{\Psi} = E\mathrm{\Psi}
$$
where $\hat{H}$ is the Hamiltonian operator, and $\mathrm{\Psi}$ is the ...
3
votes
How did scientists prove that electron configuration was true if we do not know exactly where electrons are?
There's an either-or statement in your question that you can remove. An electron configuration is a simplified representation of an approximate model of the actual electronic structure. It is an ...
3
votes
Why are p orbitals most important for stability?
This question is legitimate, I do not know if this will be give a complete answer, but here is the basic principle.
We have to define first the orbital at the outermost shell.
When you have to solve ...
2
votes
Distance of Orbitals from Nucleus relation with Energy level and penetration power
I have studied that according to Aufbau rule the energy of subshells
is dependent on the sum of $n$ and $l$ values. This would imply that the energy of subshells in a shell varies as
$$ n_s<n_p<...
2
votes
Accepted
where could I find the standard atomic orbital energy of all elements?
NIST is a reasonable place to start. They've posted data from electronic structure calculations using DFT online (Ref 1) . However it looks like you might need to scrape the site to extract the ...
2
votes
Accepted
Nephelauxetic effect and covalency of metal-ligand bonds
The Racah repulsion parameters are smaller in a transition metal complex than in a free atomic ion because
Decreased effective nuclear charge: As the effective charge localized at the metal decreases,...
2
votes
Accepted
Ionization Energy equal to single electron energy
The ionization energy is the energy deficit the bound electron has with respect to the energy of a free electron in rest.
So, if the ionization energy of a $\ce{H}$ atom is $\pu{13.6 eV}$ and if we ...
1
vote
Accepted
On the relativistic contraction of orbitals
The $d$ and $f$ orbitals do not expand due to the speed (or more accurately, the ratio of energy drawn from the electrostatic field to the rest mass-energy) of the innermost electrons in those ...
1
vote
Accepted
Is the energy difference between the 2s and 2p orbital smaller than the difference between 3s and 3p?
The energy difference between the s and p orbitals increases with atomic number
As the atomic number increases, the nuclear charge increases and the electrons move closer to the nucleus. This reduces ...
1
vote
Why does the two OH bonds in H2O have different bond disassociation enthalpies? How does the bond cleavage happen here?
Two $\ce{OH}$ bonds in any molecule have different dissociation enthalpies, as only the first one is related to the original molecule.
The second one is related to the original molecule with the ...
1
vote
How does the concept of the electron shell (also called energy level) and the orbital coexist?
There always coexist several models for historical and educational reasons. Especially the latter is based on several levels of trade off between accuracy and simplicity.
If we take mechanical work:
...
1
vote
Confusion about the number of microstates for orbitals
I will explain in details why I stated (in the comments) that some states are inconsistent. The spin-orbit (S.O) coupling correlates the orbital angular momentum $\vec{L}$ and the spin angular ...
1
vote
Why is the $\mathrm d_{z^2}$ orbital so different from the rest?
It's a matter of counting, really, if you are aware of what you are counting.
We may regard the angular dependence of the four-lobe functions at any radial distance $r$ as follows:
$(a_1x+b_1y+c_1z)(...
1
vote
Is p-bromophenol more acidic than p-chlorophenol?
I looked up the pKa values of each chloro- and bromophenol and compiled them in the following little table:
pKa
chlorophenol
bromophenol
ortho-
8.49
8.45
meta-
8.81
9.03
para-
9.14
9.17
(These ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
Related Tags
orbitals × 638quantum-chemistry × 190
molecular-orbital-theory × 111
electrons × 98
electronic-configuration × 73
bond × 72
inorganic-chemistry × 69
atoms × 67
physical-chemistry × 61
hybridization × 58
atomic-structure × 36
organic-chemistry × 35
computational-chemistry × 33
theoretical-chemistry × 31
energy × 23
valence-bond-theory × 21
transition-metals × 19
spin × 15
symmetry × 14
coordination-compounds × 13
molecular-structure × 13
crystal-field-theory × 12
stability × 11
periodic-trends × 11
ionization-energy × 10