Orbital Notation

Front

What is orbital notation?

Back

Orbital notation is a way of representing the arrangement of electrons in an atom using boxes or lines to represent orbitals and arrows to represent electrons.

Front

What does an orbital diagram represent?

Back

An orbital diagram visually represents the distribution of electrons in an atom's orbitals, showing the number of electrons and their spins.

Front

What is the Pauli Exclusion Principle?

Back

The Pauli Exclusion Principle states that no two electrons in an atom can have the same set of four quantum numbers, meaning that an orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons with opposite spins.

Front

What is Hund's Rule?

Back

Hund's Rule states that electrons will fill degenerate orbitals (orbitals of the same energy) singly before pairing up, to minimize electron-electron repulsion.

Front

What is the maximum number of electrons in an s orbital?

Back

An s orbital can hold a maximum of 2 electrons.

Front

What is the maximum number of electrons in a p orbital?

Back

A p orbital can hold a maximum of 6 electrons.

Front

What is the maximum number of electrons in a d orbital?

Back

A d orbital can hold a maximum of 10 electrons.

Front

What is the maximum number of electrons in an f orbital?

Back

An f orbital can hold a maximum of 14 electrons.

Front

How are electrons represented in an orbital diagram?

Back

Electrons are represented by arrows; one arrow pointing up represents one electron, and one arrow pointing down represents another electron with opposite spin.

Front

What does it mean if two arrows in the same orbital are pointing in opposite directions?

Back

It means that the two electrons in that orbital have opposite spins, which is in accordance with the Pauli Exclusion Principle.