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Exercise · Q26

Q.Answer the following question.
Draw shapes of 2s and 2p orbitals.

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Step 1. 2s orbital. Like all s orbitals it is spherically symmetric, drawn as a sphere centred on the nucleus. Unlike 1s, the 2s orbital's probability-density cloud contains one spherical NODE — a thin shell where the probability density is nearly zero and the wave function changes sign — separating a small inner spherical region of density from a larger outer spherical shell of density. As a boundary-surface diagram it is simply a larger sphere than 1s (orbital size grows with n).

Step 2. 2p orbitals. There are three 2p orbitals in the L shell (mₗ = −1, 0, +1), each shaped as a dumbbell: two lobes of density lying on opposite sides of a flat nodal plane that passes through the nucleus (where the probability density is nearly zero). The three orbitals are identical in size and energy but point along different axes, so they are labelled 2pₓ (lobes along x), 2p_y (lobes along y) and 2p_z (lobes along z). …

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