Degenerate Orbitals

[Amy Shimizu 1J]

Hi, how can someone explain how you find how many degenerate orbitals there are, as well as how you can tell if a specific orbital is degenerate or not?

[Austin_Schwartz_1L]

Hello,
Degenerate Orbitals are orbitals that have the same energy, meaning the orbitals in each subshell are degenerate. For example, in the p subshell, there are three orbitals, and they all have the same energy so they are degenerate.
I hope this helps!

[Lynne Xu 3K]

Degenerate means having the same energy. Atomic orbitals in the same subshell are said to be degenerate.

[Darlene Luu 1H]

Degenerate orbitals are orbitals that have the same energy.
s subshell= 1 degenerate orbital
p subshell= 3 degenerate orbitals
d subshell= 5 degenerate orbitals
f subshell= 7 degenerate orbitals

[Arjun_Anumula_3E]

I believe in multiple electron systems, all orbitals cannot be degenerate due to electron-electron repulsion that distinguishes for example 2s from 2p at different energies. However, in single electron systems, without such repulsion, all orbitals will be degenerate.

And as stated above by Darlene, the different l quantum numbers within a given principal quantum level will define the unique degenerate orbitals.

[Nishan Reddy 3K]

Degenerate orbitals refers to the fact that orbitals of the same electron shell and orbital type all have the same amount of energy. Additionally, hybridization creates a specific number of degenerate hybrid orbitals based on how many are made. For example, all three of the 3p orbitals are considered degenerate and the three orbitals of the sp2 hybrid orbitals are degenerate as well.