Learn more about MO diagrams using these hands-on 101 Diagramss that we have collected for you! In the following diagrams, the examples of molecular orbital diagram are illustrated clear pictures. Follow these diagrams to study more about the topic and we’ll start by giving you the first H20 MO diagram below.
In atoms, electrons reside in orbitals of differing energy levels such as 1s, 2s, 3d, etc. These orbitals represent the probability distribution for finding an electron anywhere around the atom. The molecular orbital (MO) theory is a powerful and extensive approach which describes electrons as delocalized moieties over adjacent atoms, and you can see the representation of the approach in the MO diagram above. The following orbital diagrams also show you some examples.
Two atomic orbitals can overlap in two ways depending on their phase relationship. The phase of an orbital is a direct consequence of the wave-like properties of electrons. In graphical representations of orbitals, orbital phase is depicted either by a plus or minus sign or by shading one lobe. The sign of the phase itself does not have physical meaning except when mixing orbitals to form molecular orbitals.
Atomic orbitals can also interact with each other out-of-phase which leads to destructive cancellation and no electron density between the two nuclei at the so-called nodal plane depicted as a perpendicular dashed line. All these pictures presented are printable MO diagrams resources. Hopefully, these examples will give you more insight about the orbital diagram. Learn more about the other educational diagrams by browsing through our categories or looking it up on the search column!