what are the different shapes of d orbitals and mention the electron density along the axis
Answers
Explanation:
Since d-orbitals are frequently used in co-ordination complexes it is important to study their shapes and distribution in space. There is no unique way of representing the five d-orbitals, but the most eminent representations are shown below.
In fact there are six wave functions that can be written for orbitals having the typical four-lobed form. In as much as there can be only five d-orbitals having any physical reality, one of them (dz2) is conventionally regarded as a linear combination of two others, the (dz2–y2) and (dz2–x2) . Thus these latter two orbitals have no independent existence, but the (dz2) can be thought of as having the average properties of the two.
Therefore since both have high electron density along the z axis, the (dz2) orbital has a large fraction of its electron density concentrated along the same axis. Also, since one of the component wave functions (dz2–y2 ) has lobes along the y-axis and the other (dz2–x2) along the x-axis, the resultant (dz2) orbital has a torus of electron density in the xy plane. The xy component which is often referred to as a ‘doughnut’ (or) a ‘collar’, is frequently neglected in pictorial representations, especially when an attempt is being made to portray all five d-orbitals simultaneously.
The five d-orbitals in an isolated gaseous metal ion are degenerate. If a spherically symmetric field of negative charges is placed around the metal, the orbitals will remain degenerate, but all of them will be raised in energy as a result of repulsion between the negative field and the negative electrons in the orbitals. If the field results from the influence of real ligands the symmetry of the field will be less than spherical and the degeneracy of the d-orbitals will be removed.