Orbitals, the Basics: Atomic Orbital Tutorial — probability, shapes, energy |Crash Chemistry Academy

A crash course tutorial on atomic orbitals, quantum numbers and electron configurations + practice problems explained.

CC Academy videos are easy 101 crash course tutorials for step by step Chemistry help on your chemistry homework, problems, and experiments.
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—More on Atomic Orbitals | Wikipedia—
"An atomic orbital is a mathematical function that describes the wave-like behavior of either one electron or a pair of electrons in an atom.[1] This function can be used to calculate the probability of finding any electron of an atom in any specific region around the atom's nucleus. The term, atomic orbital, may also refer to the physical region or space where the electron can be calculated to be present, as defined by the particular mathematical form of the orbital.[2]

Each orbital in an atom is characterized by a unique set of values of the three quantum numbers n, ℓ, and m, which respectively correspond to the electron's energy, angular momentum, and an angular momentum vector component (the magnetic quantum number). Any orbital can be occupied by a maximum of two electrons, each with its own spin quantum number s. The simple names s orbital, p orbital, d orbital and f orbital refer to orbitals with angular momentum quantum number ℓ = 0, 1, 2 and 3 respectively. These names, together with the value of n, are used to describe the electron configurations of atoms. They are derived from the description by early spectroscopists of certain series of alkali metal spectroscopic lines as sharp, principal, diffuse, and fundamental. ...

Atomic orbitals are the basic building blocks of the atomic orbital model (alternatively known as the electron cloud or wave mechanics model), a modern framework for visualizing the submicroscopic behavior of electrons in matter. In this model the electron cloud of a multi-electron atom may be seen as being built up (in approximation) in an electron configuration that is a product of simpler hydrogen-like atomic orbitals. The repeating periodicity of the blocks of 2, 6, 10, and 14 elements within sections of the periodic table arises naturally from the total number of electrons that occupy a complete set of s, p, d and f atomic orbitals, respectively, although for higher values of the quantum number n, particularly when the atom in question bears a positive charge, the energies of certain sub-shells become very similar and so the order in which they are said to be populated by electrons (e.g. Cr = [Ar]4s13d5 and Cr2+ = [Ar]3d4) can only be rationalized somewhat arbitrarily."

Wikipedia contributors. "Atomic orbital." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 May. 2016. Web. 27 May. 2016.

[juststudyit]

This is exactly what a chemistry lesson should be like. Expensive software, devices, or fancy animations are not important. At the end of the day, how simple and easy-to-understand a lesson is are the determining factors of the lesson's quality, and the creator of this lesson did a great job with that.

[ahmedhaleem]

That guy explained in less than 15 mins what my chemistry prof was trying to do for an entire lecture!

[siddarthkasi]

This video is a miracle for visual learners. Thank You!

[yudistroy]

Wow out of so many other videos about orbitals, yours was the most clearest to me! I don't know if its just because I'm a visual learner, but whatever it is, your explanation is the clearest! Keep up the great work :)

[TheRok]

Thanks a lot for this!

It's worth it to clarify that, even though the whole “s for sphere and p for polar” thing is good for remembering as a mnemonic, for example, that's NOT actually what the letters stand for. The shell or orbital s stands for *sharp*, p stands for *principal*, d stands for *diffuse*, and f stands for *fundamental*. And the reason early spectroscopists gave them those letters is the way the “spectral lines” produced from spectroscopy looked like in each case; s's lines were “sharp”, p's lines were the strongest (“principal”), d's lines were “diffuse” (scattered or perhaps fuzzy in contrast with s's sharpness), and f's lines’ frequency ratios were similar to that of Hydrogen's so seemed to them...“fundamental”. This may not help as much as the mnemonics for early students, but it will certainly help if a student likes chemistry or chooses a career in it; you don't want to sound misinformed or ignorant of those facts when talking to other chemists.

[wrygixr]

I was having a hard time trying to visualize how orbitals overlap each other with different shapes and energy levels but this vid made it as clear as glass thankkk u genius

[ilovedogsilovethem]

I was confused on orbitals for about a year and a half. My Honors Chemistry class didn't go into depth about them, and now that I'm in AP, we're expected to know them. Thank you for this video. I finally have an inkling of what they are.

[CrashChemistryAcademy]

The more complexly shaped the orbital (say d vs s), the more energy required (angular momentum) for an electron to remain in that area. It takes more energy for an electron to be in a d shape than in an s shape, thus 3d electrons have slightly higher energy than 4s.

[ymaevelyn]

This is the best explanation I've found. It's a very simple concept when addressed properly. I don't know why no one else thought to clearly match the shape to the letter and draw it on an axes to clearly give us a picture.

Those who explain it the best understand it the best. I will be flicking through your videos when I have grasped this :)

Thank you SO much!

[purplepanda]

This is honestly one of the best explanations I’ve ever seen for chemistry, those visuals really work wonders

[spacevspitch]

Dude, you win! I've been trying to get a handle on this whole electron orbital setup (just for my own entertainment, cuz I'm a nerd and I'm into these things) and no other videos (even the really popular ones, like Bozeman science and Crash Course) explained it as well as you. Thanks!

[saleena]

This helped a lot! I'm currently taking an online course in Chemistry and their explanations are very vague, I'm glad I found this :) Thank you!

[NicholetteChua]

THANK YOU MUCH for making this tutorial. I was stuck for a week on this topic of orbitals until my friend recommended this video to my group. It is so clear cut and manageable in terms of understanding. Thank you so so much. :DD

[panotsampas]

OMG OMG!! Ive been trying to understand the image of electron configuration and orbitals in my head but I couldn't because my professor wasn't able to help me nor any of the tutors I hired. After looking through numerous videos I finally understand orbitals. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!

[dakkan]

I cannot believe that this video is 9 years old but explains this in the best way possible, i really needed a visual representation and here i have it. Broken down so well thank you.

[surferaly]

At last, after A Level Chemistry and a degree in Geology, a clear explanation, really appreciate it, could have done with this 30 years ago.

[heyyyu]

Thank you! This was so helpful for my Chemistry exam~ I looked every where and this really helped me understand orbitals!

[garrytalaroc]

I love visual explaination because i can use my imagination rather than knowledge

[annikabaker]

This was so much more helpful than the crash course. This gave me all the information I needed without giving me so much extra detail that I got confused.

[missy]

Thank You!!! spent almost two hours flipping from my orgo textbook to my chemistry textbook and other youtube videos and this video is the only one that made sense to me. Awesome!!