Splitting In The d-Orbital

Introduction

The d-Orbital

Basically electrons orbit its nucleus in five ways. There is the s-orbital has a single orbital, and the p orbital which is a little more complex and has 3 different electron orbital. The d orbital is the one we are interested in, there is also an f-orbital and g-orbital but they are much more complex orbital. The d-orbital has 5 different orbitals, which are each labelled d_xy, d_xz, d_yz, d_z² and d_x²-y²

The above is a graphically rendered model of the 3d orbital. The d_xy d_xz d_yz all lay between the axis, and the d_z² d_y²-x² lie on the axis.

The d-orbital can hold a maximum of 10 electrons, 2 per orbital each with a different spin, with quantum numbers ± ½. This can be drawn as two arrows one pointing up and the other pointing down. so if a energy level diagram was to be drawn of Cr it would look like the one below

For more information on orbitals in general please visit http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/orbitron