atomic orbital

mathematical function describing the location and behavior of an electron within an atom

AI overview

An atomic orbital is a mathematical description of where an electron is likely to be found and how it behaves within an atom. Understanding atomic orbitals is fundamental to explaining how atoms bond together, how chemicals react, and why materials have the properties they do.

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Image: D orbitals.svg

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Commons category: Atomic orbitals

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The shapes of the first five atomic orbitals are 1s, 2s, 2px, 2py, and 2pz. The two colors show the phase or sign of the wave function in each region. Each picture is domain coloring of a ψ(x, y, z) function which depends on the coordinates of one electron. To see the elongated shape of ψ(x, y, z) functions that show probability density more directly, see pictures of d-orbitals below.

In quantum mechanics, an atomic orbital is a function describing the location and wave-like behavior of an electron in an atom. This function describes an electron's charge distribution around the atom's nucleus, and can be used to calculate the probability of finding an electron in a specific region around the nucleus.