Px, Py, Pz [ENDORSED]

[Sahand Fardi 1]

Can someone please explain the difference between Px, Py, and Pz? Thank you!

[Shirley_Zhang 3O]

They describe the locations of electrons in a P-orbital. So instead of saying "these electron are in the front and back," we can say "their positions are on the x-axis"
since they are in P-orbital, we state their location as "Px"

same idea for Py and Pz

[Yinhan_Liu_1D]

They describe the locations of electrons in a P-orbital. So instead of saying "these electron are in the front and back," we can say "their positions are on the x-axis"
since they are in P-orbital, we state their location as "Px"

same idea for Py and Pz

Do you know how from n=2, l=1, m=-1 we could now it's e- in 2Px state?

I get the 2 and the P. But I don't know how to decide it's Px.

I would appreciate your help.
Thanks.

[Shirley_Zhang 3O]

They describe the locations of electrons in a P-orbital. So instead of saying "these electron are in the front and back," we can say "their positions are on the x-axis"
since they are in P-orbital, we state their location as "Px"

same idea for Py and Pz

Do you know how from n=2, l=1, m=-1 we could now it's e- in 2Px state?

I get the 2 and the P. But I don't know how to decide it's Px.

I would appreciate your help.
Thanks.

In my opinion, the positioning depends on how you decide to place the 3D Cartesian axis, so it's arbitrary. In the d-block, there are Dxy, Dxz, etc
I think they assign the coordinates is to give people a better understanding of where an electron locates relatively to other electrons graphically.
Maybe we can ask Dr. Lavelle about this during office hour :)

[Janice Kim 3I]

Px, Py, Pz are the different orbitals that are within the p subshell. Each one is a different orientation and each is linked to a different number for the magnetic quantum number m_l.
For example, let's say n = 2. Then l = 0, 1. For l = 1 (the p orbital), m_l = -1, 0, 1. These three numbers correspond to the different orbitals Px, Py, and Pz.

[Shirley_Zhang 3O]

I confirmed with Dr. Lavelle that assigning coordinates ( x, y, z, etc) to orbitals is arbitrary. He will not test us on that, so we do not have to worry too much. :)