Nodal Planes

[Rohita Thammineni 2D]

Hi! Can someone explain how nodal planes come about? I know they're areas in an orbital with no electron density, but how exactly are these nodal planes positioned and why do they exist in the first place? Do different subshells have different numbers of nodal planes?

[Rohita Thammineni 2D]

Ahhh Sorry I meant to post this under Multi-Electron Atoms woops

[Kaitlyn Bateman 1L]

Nodal planes are positioned differently according to the subshell they are in. There are a different amount of nodal planes for each type of subshell. I am not sure why they exist though.

[Clarence Clavite 2K]

Hello, I believe they exist due to electron electron repulsion. The position of electrons affect the position of others and therefore the number of them in an orbital also changes the shapes. That's my best guess, hope this helps!

[Quynhanh Nguyen 1C]

Hi there!

I think a part of the nodal plane concept is based on Schrodinger's Equation squared which is the electron probability density. When this equation equals zero, there is no chance that an electron will be found there, and thus, there is a nodal plane. Hope this helps!