orbital

(noun)

A specification of the energy and probability density of an electron at any point in an atom or molecule.

Related Terms

  • electron shell

Examples of orbital in the following topics:

  • Electron Orbitals

    • The closest orbital to the nucleus, called the 1s orbital, can hold up to two electrons.
    • The 1s orbital is always filled before any other orbital.
    • After the 1s orbital is filled, the second electron shell is filled, first filling its 2s orbital and then its three p orbitals.
    • Two electrons fill the 1s orbital, and the third electron then fills the 2s orbital.
    • Each sphere is a single orbital. p subshells are made up of three dumbbell-shaped orbitals.
  • Electron Shells and the Bohr Model

    • Niels Bohr proposed an early model of the atom as a central nucleus containing protons and neutrons being orbited by electrons in shells.
    • The Bohr model shows the atom as a central nucleus containing protons and neutrons with the electrons in circular orbitals at specific distances from the nucleus .
    • These orbits form electron shells or energy levels, which are a way of visualizing the number of electrons in the various shells.
    • Electrons fill orbit shells in a consistent order.
  • Evolution of Amniotes

    • Temporal fenestrae are post-orbital openings in the skull that allow muscles to expand and lengthen.
  • Causes of Global Climate Change

    • The Milankovitch cycles describe how slight changes in the earth's orbit affect the earth's climate.
    • In other words, one could expect to see some predictable changes in the earth's climate associated with changes in the earth's orbit at a minimum of every 19,000 years.
  • Hydrocarbons

    • The geometry of the methane molecule, where the atoms reside in three dimensions, is determined by the shape of its electron orbitals.
  • Absorption of Light

    • Energy levels lower than those represented by red light are insufficient to raise an orbital electron to an excited, or quantum, state.
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