s-,p-, d-, and f- orbitals

[Jared Smith 1E]

Can someone please explain to me in a little more detail what each of the orbital letters means, and how that relates to their positions on the x,y,z axes?
He went over them kind of quickly in class, and I didn't learn this in high school.

[PranithaPrasad]

As I understand it, the s, p, d, and f orbitals essentially tell us where we are most likely to find electrons for a certain atom. The number of electrons varies based on level (s can hold max 2, p can hold a maximum of 6, d can hold a maximum of 10, and f can hold a maximum of 14) as the size of the orbital changes based on the orbital. Their positions on the x,y, and z axes essentially tells us the shape of that orbital. I'm not sure if that cleared it up, so you can check out this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewf7RlVNBSA
It explains everything in a lot of detail and is super helpful.

Hope this helps!

[Ethan Mondell 1A]

Depending on the type of orbital (s,p,d, or f) there can be different orientations of the orbital which is the "m sub l" quantum number. If the orbital is S then there can only be one orientation because S orbitals are spheres. The P oribital can have 3 different orientations on the xyz axis since they're shaped differently and can be put in different recognizable orientations. The D orbitals can have 5 different orientations. The F orbitals can have 7 different orientations.

[Jana Sun 1I]

Just a quick note: my high school chemistry teacher taught us a neat trick to memorize the m sub l quantum numbers associated with each s-, p-, d-, and f- orbitals. You can create a number pyramid like below:

0 (s-)
-1, 0, 1 (p-)
-2, -1, 0, 1, 2 (d-)
-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 (f-)

The numbers on each line of the pyramid represent all possible m sub l quantum numbers that can exist at each orbital.

[Mitch Mologne 1A]

In essence and put simply, all the four different orbitals have different shapes relating to their axes. S has very simplistic orbitals, while f has very complex ones.

[304922790]

So what does m sub l quantum numbers tell you? Does:
0 (s-)
-1, 0, 1 (p-)
-2, -1, 0, 1, 2 (d-)
-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 (f-)

tell you the number of electrons that each subshell can hold? I don't get what the numbers mean. Sorry I am super confused and I have never learned this in high school.

[Kaelie Blanes-Ronda 2L]

Yes, you can figure out how many electrons are in an atom by the orbitals. Each separate orbital can hold a max of 2 electrons.

[Michael Cheng 1C]

I am confused. When is the d orbital less energy than the next s orbital? and when is d orbital greater energy?