What is the point of talking about three axes for hydrogen orbitals?

Asked Nov 20 '18 at 21:23

Active Nov 20 '18 at 21:51

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The hydrogen orbitals are usually described using polar coordinates ($\Psi(r, \theta, \varphi)$).

I understand that $r$ is the distance from the center of the atom, but how are the angles defined?

Would it theoretically be possible to distinguish (2,1,0) from (2,1,1) in this picture in an experiment? If so, how?

enter image description here

edited Nov 20 '18 at 21:51

asked Nov 20 '18 at 21:23

Jasper

Maybe you should ask on the Chemistry Stack Exchange. Those are the 2p orbitals you're asking about, and there should be three of them. Even supposing you couldn't tell which was which, the fact of one, two, or three of them being filled, in atoms that have more than one electron, would, I am absolutely guessing, affect bond angles in molecules containing those atoms. – Solomon Slow Nov 20 '18 at 22:32
Try this, or this. – Cosmas Zachos Nov 21 '18 at 01:05
Possibly related: Why aren't orbitals symmetric? – cxx Nov 21 '18 at 02:19

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