Hydrogen atom degeneracy

[Sarah Wang 1I]

Hi everyone! The textbook (topic 1D) refers to H-atoms as "degenerate" as its orbitals all of the same energy. I'm a bit confused as to what this means. Why aren't other atoms degenerate, and only hydrogen atoms are?

[Vy Le 1G]

Hi Sarah, the H atom is considered degenerate (same energy) because no matter which orbital it is in, it will have the same energy. That is, since there is only 1 electron in the H-atom, there is no electron repulsion so the symmetry of the orbital is the same. Hope this helped!