Science Reference

Atomic orbital

Atomic orbitals are the quantum states of the individual electrons in the electron cloud around a single atom.

Specifically, atomic orbitals are the quantum states of the individual electrons in the electron cloud around a single atom.

Classically, the electrons were thought to orbit the atomic nucleus, much like the planets around the Sun (or more accurately, a moth orbiting very quickly around a lamp).

However electrons cannot be described as solid particles (as a planet or a moth), so a more accurate comparison would be that of a (huge) atmosphere (the spatially distributed electron) around a (tiny) planet (the nucleus)..

For more information about the topic Atomic orbital, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Atomic orbital at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details.

Search ScienceDaily

Number of stories in archives: 44,032

Find with keyword(s):
 
Enter a keyword or phrase to search ScienceDaily's archives for related news topics,
the latest news stories, reference articles, science videos, images, and books.
 

Science Video News


Searching For Extrasolar Planets

A new distributed computing program analyzes data to characterize new planetary systems by computing the light reflected from nearby extrasolar. ...  > full story

Breaking News

... from NewsDaily.com

In Other News ...

Copyright Reuters 2008. See Restrictions.

Free Subscriptions

... from ScienceDaily

Get the latest science news with our free email newsletters, updated daily and weekly. Or view hourly updated newsfeeds in your RSS reader:

Feedback

... we want to hear from you!

Tell us what you think of the new ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
Post this page to your favorite social bookmarking site:
close
Include this item in your blog or web site:
close
Email this page's link to a friend or colleague:
close