From the survey of my weekly JC1 A-Level H2 Chemistry Tuition Classes, i realised that some students face challenges in drawing the Shapes of Atomic Orbitals in their Junior Colleges (JCs) lectures as well as school tutorials. In fact, it is very easy to draw them if you understand the concepts behind these Atomic Orbitals.
An Atomic Orbital is basically a region of space around the nucleus in which the probability of finding a particular electron is the greatest i.e. about 98% chance of finding an electron.
Electrons can occupy four types of orbital (s, p, d and f orbitals) that differ from each other in shape and in their orientation in space.
For Cambridge A-Level H2 Chemistry syllabus (refer to Singapore Examination & Assessment Board), you will only be tested on drawing the shapes of:
- s orbitals: spherical shape
- p orbitals: dumb-bell shape
- UPDATED on 10 April 2017: Students are required to know how to draw the d orbitals also based on the new syllabus code 9729 (starting from 2017)
Length of video: 2.25 mins
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUzw6c7ehV0
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