Can anybody explain 's' 'd' 'p' and 'f' orbitals? Where do they come into play in chemistry?
952374
Hey what's up?  Ya I remember learning that about 3 or 4 weeks ago in Chemistry.  S, P, D, F orbitals are the four main sets of orbitals around the nucleus of an atom.  An "S" orbital looks like a sphere, a "P" orbital looks like 2 dumbbells, a "D" orbital looks like a four leaf clover, and a "F" orbital really has no shape, it looks more like a blob, unless viewed by a very powerful microscope.  But anyways, they are also called energy sublevels, which are contained in Principal energy levels.  To better understand what an energy sublevel is, picture this, picture the seats in a wedge-shaped section of a theater.  As you move away from the stage, the rows become higher and contain more seats.  Similarly, the number of energy sublevels in a principal energy level increases as "n" increases.  They are according to the shapes of the atom's orbitals.  Hey one last tip, if you are able to take a look at the periodic table of elements, Group 1A and 2A are "S" orbitals, Groups 3B to 2B are your "D" orbitals, groups 3A to 8A are your "P" orbitals except Helium which is an "S" orbital, and elements 58 to 71 and 90 to 103 are your "F" orbitals.
32615
we don't use k,l,m,n anymore. The letters are s,p,d and f. They refer to the different shapes of the shells(orbitals)
1120147
Hybridization, in terms of Chemistry, involves the sharing, or overlapping, of orbitals.  Depending on the energy level where electrons are contained within a molecule, different orbitals will be formed.  These orbitals are really just mathematical representations of where electrons may be found.  The commonly studied orbitals are s, p, d and f.  They are different in shape.  Hybridization occurs when electrons of different orbital types overlap, and combine, forming a new orbital.  Hybridized orbitals tend to be more stable.  You may want to look up Molecular Orbital (MO) diagrams to fully understand how bonding among electrons occurs.
36176
its when there are unpaired electron orbitals
838159
Sigma corresponds with "s" orbitals.  Pi corresponds with "p" orbitals.  We know that 2 electrons fill up the s orbitals.  We know that it takes 6 electrons to fill up the p orbitals.  Carbon has four bonding sites, so it could theoretically have four bonds.  That is 1 sigma bond and 3 pi bonds.  Bottom line is to remember that it corresponds with orbitals.  Hope this helps!
784377
This is true.  The Px, Py, and Pz orbitals are degenerate in all atoms provided the atom is not subjected to a magnetic field. \n\nIn hydrogen and other single electron systems (He+ etc) only the n quantum number matters to determine energy.  So you can actually say that the 2s, 2px, 2py and 2pz are all degenerate.  \n\nThe s, p etc orbitals lose this degeneracy when there is more than one electron due to electrostatic repulsion between the electrons, so then you need both the n quantum number and the l quantum number to determine energy.
880509
Hey, Blond fuss?  Good luck if U can't find help @ this late hour. Keep working on it.  Something from what U learned so far must b in your head - find it. No one else working on this problem awake?\n  I'm tired (12:35 a.m. here @ UMAss Amherst).  Had 1st-yr Chem 100 in 1978, not Chem 1111 !! Barely remember orbitals.  U do have books there, don't U?   Library maybe not open now as ours is.    \n Aces 2 computer. So U have awhile 2 figure it out.  Good luck.
992074
magnesium (Mg)? 1s²2s²2px²2py²2pz²3s² = 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2\n\nthere are three kinds of p orbitals, px, py,pz,difference in geometry but all are capable of holding 2 electrons.\n\n*** \nfor those ppl thinking about fluorine, first of all, it has 2 x 6 = 12 electrons, not 9 (^^). Fluorine has five 2p electrons, this element has six; also, this element has two valance electrons (the outmost 3s orbital), not seven. So definitely NOT fluorine, I can guarantee u that. \n***
852150
My OChem teacher explains it this way, looking at carbon.\n\nCarbon has four valence electrons, 1 2s orbital and  3 2p orbitals. If you look at them separately, you see that the first two electrons go into 2s because it's lower energy, the next one goes into 2px, and the last into 2py. And we see that carbon forms two bonds. There's a technical term for this: WRONG! :)\n\nSo, imagine you have 4 guests in your house, and you have 1 tomato and 3 pieces of celery. How do you make sure that everyone gets *exactly* the same thing?\n\nYou have to blend them all together. You would put your ingredients, tomato (1 of them) and celery (3 of them), in a blender, pour into four glasses, serve chilled.\n\nSo with carbon, we take our s (1 of them) and our p (3 of them), blend them together and we have 4 s1p3 (ie. sp3) orbitals. 4 single bonds, everything even.\n\nWe could also take s (1 of them) and p (2 of them), and we'll have 3 s1p2 (sp2) orbitals. This is the case with ethylene -- the sp2 orbitals make 3 sigma bonds (2 for the single, 1 for the double), and the un-blended p orbital makes the pi bond.\n\nLikewise, sp is 1 s and 1 p orbital (s1p1).\n\nHope this helps. I've found this subject troublesome, too.
1010723
First the electron would have an sp1 configuration not np1.  As to which orbital it would revolve in...it doesn't matter.  The x, y, and z are just ways to distinquish the 3 different orbitals.  the point in the center is a null point.  the electrons do not actually travel through that spot.  Orbital configurations just define a volume where an electron might spend some of its time.  it could be found anywhere in the volume.
44394
1. The Aufbau principle: Orbitals are occupied in order of increasing energy. 1s<2s<2p<3s<3p<4s<3d<4p<5s<4d<5p<6s<4f<5d<6p<7s<5f<6d\n\n2. The Pauli exclusion principle: Only two electrons can ocoupy an orbital and they must have opposite spin.\n\n3. Hund's rule: When there are degenerate orbitals, one electron is added to each with their spins parallel until all are half full. Then a second electron with opposite spin is added to each degenerate orbital. (See below)\n\n(Basically every space/box/circle must have an arrow pointing up before any space/box circle can have one pointing down.)\n(Everyone gets one before anyone gets two.)
725881
1) sp hybridized carbons always means a triple bond. Of three available p orbitals only one is hypridized to make the sp. So two unhybridized p orbitals remain. The atom therefore, can form two pi bonds, one with each unhyridized orbital. \n2) A triple bond always has one sigma bond and two pi bonds. Sigma bonds are the result of interactions between orbitals that point directly toward eachother. The sigma bond comes from the sp orbital. Pi bonds come from interaction between orbitals that are parallel to eachother. \n3) A molecule freely rotates around a sigma bond with very little energy. However in a double bond if the molecule cannot rotate because the p orbitals used to create the bond will become perpendicular -- rather than parallel. This places one p orbital in the node of the other. The node is the location of the p orbital that doesn't have any electron density which would be contridictory. It is for the same reason impossible to rotated around a triple bond.
410413
In the formation of a molecule only the outer shell electrons are involved and they are known as valence electrons.It is, therefore, quite reasonable to consider these valence electrons while discussing chemical bonds and other chemical properties as the case may arise.\n          G.N.Lewis introduced simple symbols to denote valence electrons in an atom.The outer shell electrons are shown as dots surrounding the symbol of the atom. These symbols ignore inner shell electrons. This type of representation is known as Lewis dot representation.Structures of molecules denote by this representation is called Lewis dot structure. \n The common valency of the element is either equal to the dots in Lewis symbol (if less than equal to 4) or 8 minus these dots (if these are more than 4)\n\nFor examples of dot structures click the following link:\nhttp://img106.imageshack.us/img106/3875/untitled1ju.jpg
806618
The only difference I can see would be the molecular geometry, due to the number of H's bonded onto the anion. Also, when drawing the Lewis dot structures, NH3 (N) would have one lone pair of electrons, HF (F) and H2O (O) would have two. This would dictate their structures according to the VSEPR rules.
917590
The notation 's', 'p', 'd', and 'f' originate from a now-discredited system of categorizing spectral lines.\n\ns= sharp\np= principal\nd= diffuse\nf= fundamental
69638
s,p,d,f are the names of different kinds of electron orbitals.  they correspond to different values for the angular momentum quantum number "l".  \n\ngoing from s -> p -> d -> f and so on means an increase in the electron's angular momentum about the nucleus.  s means the l quantum number is 0; p means l = 1, d means l=2, f means l=3.  \n\nrereading the question, maybe you mean what do the letters stand for?  it has to do with the way electron orbitals are studied, which is via emission spectroscopy.  the names were originally given to describe different kinds of spectral lines and they stand for:  sharp, principal, diffuse, and fundamental.
801097
Work through them one-by-one. You need p or d orbitals that are oriented properly. The s orbital is symmetric, so it won't work for a pi bond. \nA. s orbital is the wrong symmetry for a pi-bond.\nB. py and dxy do appear to be oriented properly\nC, D, E - all have as one choice the px. Since the bond is along this axis, the px is not oriented properly for a pi bond. (The pi-bond has to have lobes that stick out to the side perpendicular to the axis of the bond).