Letter Names

[Jada Brown 2H]

Does anyone know if there is a significance to the use of the specific s, p, d and f letters for the shells? If so, what is that significance?

[Rita Chen 1B]

The letters themselves represent a word. S represents sharp, p represents principal, f represents fundamental and d represents diffuse.Thi sis from the spectra of the alkali metals.

[Ashley Osorio]

We use spdf in order to make up their orbital configurations.

[Drew Myers 4G]

After doing a little online research, the s, p, d, and f letters do have a history that can be discovered through this link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed084p757

[Ariel Fern 2B]

The letters themselves represent a word. S represents sharp, p represents principal, f represents fundamental and d represents diffuse.Thi sis from the spectra of the alkali metals.

That's interesting to learn! Honestly, I've been looking at the letters for so long but haven't really considered what they stood for! I originally thought s meant spherical, haha; but it's really cool to look at the origins of the letters that we've all been writing over and over again. Thanks for sharing!