Visualizing Atomic Orbitals

Atomic orbitals show the electron density for an electron of a given energy. Plotting these electron densities in three dimensions gives the shapes representing the various atomic orbitals. The subset of atomic orbitals visualized are 1s, 2p, 3d and 4f.

THINGS TO TRY

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DETAILS

In chemistry one way to sort orbitals is according to their orientation in a rectangular coordinate-system. The set of shapes above was created for m = 0 and combinations for m = ±1, ±2, ±3.

Contributed by: Guenther Gsaller

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