Talk:General Chemistry/Shells and Orbitals

rewrite plan
oh boy. this page has some interesting discussion. i've tried introducing the concept of quantum numbers corresponding to orbitals, orbital labels, and degeneracy in the previous section. this one is at this point mostly graphs that really need to be split up. could use an additional energy level graph, though; energy levels and orbital connection really needs to be explained. i think restructuring the categories would be best, honestly. i'll get to this one later. Clockworkcity (discuss • contribs) 17:40, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

energy discussion
''Longer wavelengths have less energy; the s orbital has the longest wavelength allowed for an electron orbiting a nucleus ''

I don't think this is actually true. The difference between the s,p,d,and,f, is the angular momentum not the wavelength., isn't it ?


 * Yes. The distinguishing feature is the angular momentum quantum number, l. Also, it's not always true that the s orbital has the lowest energy, since the energy is most strongly dependent on the energy level quantum number, n. So the 4s shell is higher in energy than the 2p, for instance. DrBob 21:07, 15 Dec 2003 (UTC)

It is true however that the s orbital has the lowest energy within any given shell. I've attempted to get rid of all the errors on the page. i would apprieciate someonel looking the page over to spot any errors I may have made. Theresa knott 09:56, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

utterly incomprehensible
The explaination of the wave on a guitar string is not comprehendable unless the reader has some kind of pre-requisite knowledge...I dont know what that pre-requisite knowledge is, I just know that I for one dont have it. I rather expect the example is one that only makes sense if one has knowledge from a more advanced field than general chemistry (physics perhaps)...in other words exactly the kind of knowledge one can assume 99.999999% of prospective readers of a text of this kind (people who dont yet know even about basic general chemistry) would have....

What?!
I give up even trying to comprehend this text, I suspect that the author/s are so familiar with advanced concepts that they have failed to realise that comprehending the text requires knowledge far more advanced than anyone who needs a introductory general chemistry text would possess...

huh?
I'm pretty good at chemistry, but this module makes almost no sense to me. It needs a major rewrite. Hoogli 16:05, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

QUESTION
DOES ORBITALS EXTENDED FROM S P D F???? I MEAN G H???

Possible Error
I believe a mistake is in the text of the "Electron Shells" section. In this statement "In a one-electron atom (e.g. H, He+, Li+, etc.) the energy ...", Li+ is not a single electron atom; but Li++ (or Li 2+) would be. 71.174.126.2 (discuss) 08:17, 4 November 2013 (UTC)